NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald
01.04.05
By CHRIS BARTON
The Takapuna Assembly of God has misled its congregation about allegations that its head pastor, Wayne Hughes, sexually abused a teenager.
A statement read out during a service on Good Friday claimed that police had looked into the sexual abuse allegation against Mr Hughes and "they found no basis to substantiate those claims whatsoever".
But the victim, who was abused about 20 years ago, has never laid a complaint with police.
Asked whether the statement he read was inaccurate, Pastor Duane Newport said: "It’s just too premature for us to make any comment. We are looking into all the issues."
After the Herald published the allegations last week, the church board and pastors agreed, based on medical and spiritual advice, that Mr Hughes should "take a timely break".
PROVIDENCE (RI)
Times Leader
MICHELLE R. SMITH
Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A bishop from Ohio was appointed to lead the Providence Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church Thursday, as the Vatican accepted the resignation of retiring Bishop Robert Mulvee.
Bishop Thomas Tobin, who turns 57 on Friday, has led the Youngstown Diocese and its 236,000 Catholics since 1995.
"I will do my very best. I will work hard. I will give my heart and soul to this diocese," Tobin said, adding that his top priority in the next few months will be "to listen and to learn."
Mulvee introduced Tobin, a Pittsburgh native who previously served as an auxiliary bishop in the Pittsburgh Diocese, at a morning news conference at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence. He called him a "young bishop," and said he had worked with Tobin in the past. ...
Tobin said he would continue to address the issue of clergy sex abuse, saying that the Providence Diocese "had an outstanding track record" on the issue. It reached a $14.25 million settlement in 2002 with 37 people who had sued the diocese over clergy sexual abuse.
Tobin said last year that 19 priests in the Youngstown diocese had been accused of sexually abusing children since 1950, but none since 1991. The diocese paid about $200,000 from 1950 to 2003 for counseling for victims and their families and paid about $300,000 to settle claims, Tobin said at the time. The diocese began a policy in 1994 of not offering settlements.
Thomas A. Shipka, chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University, praised Tobin's response to the clergy abuse crisis.
"He moved, I thought, in this diocese very quickly on that sex abuse issue and set up a committee that involved non-Catholics, even non-Christians, and I think he acted responsibly," Shipka said.
BILLERICA (MA)
Lowell Sun
By JACK MINCH and MATT MURPHY, Sun Staff
BILLERICA -- After working closely with Rev. Michael Randone for nearly three years, St. Theresa's pastor said he came to know a priest sincerely committed to helping the youth of his Billerica parish.
But yesterday, Rev. Eugene Tully called his former colleague to offer some friendly words of comfort, a day after Randone was fired from his post at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence and resigned his parish in Haverhill amid allegations that he sent inappropriate online messages to students.
“I didn't want to call him to get information or details. I spoke to him briefly to tell him we were thinking of him and that to let us know if we could do anything to help,” Tully said. “I think he's upset, very saddened and hurt.”
Randone, 36, was fired Tuesday as Central Catholic's part-time chaplain because he was instant-messaging students over the Internet in violation of policy, according to the school.
He could not be reached for comment yesterday.
One message was sent to a juvenile female, according to a published report that quoted a Department of Social Services official. School officials reportedly
said the message was of a sexual nature.
MASSACHUSETTS
Valley Advocate
by Maureen Turner - March 31, 2005
The sheer number of abuse charges filed against Catholic priests in recent years has had the sad effect of making the victims seem almost like a faceless, indistinguishable mass. And the ways in which their stories are revealed -- sound-bite stories of decades-old crimes, many committed by men who are now retired, perhaps even dead -- can allow an already overwhelmed public the comfort of some psychological distance.
But there´s no comfort for the victims, the very real people who had very real atrocities committed against them by people who were long considered beyond reproach. Phil Saviano knows this all too well: four decades ago, as a young boy in the small town of East Douglas, Mass., he was sexually abused, he says, by his pastor, the Rev. David Holley. Like many victims, Saviano felt scared and ashamed, and he kept his mouth shut. The abuse ended when Holley was transferred from the parish without explanation.
Years later, as an adult, Saviano picked up the newspaper and saw that Holley had been arrested for molesting kids at another parish in New Mexico. It was one of a number of cases making news in the early Œ90s, when the first wave of the priest-abuse scandal broke. And it prompted Saviano to begin dealing with what had happened to him all those years ago -- talking to his family, his therapist, and the media. (See Telling Secrets, Dec. 19, 2002, www.valleyadvocate.com.)
Saviano filed suit against the Worcester diocese, which, after years of legal wrangling, settled his case in 1996. The next year, he founded the New England chapter of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
HUDSON (WI)
Ironwood Daily Globe
By MARGARET LEVRA
Globe Staff Writer
HUDSON, Wis. -- Authorities who are completing their investigation into the 2002 double-murder case in Hudson told the Daily Globe that substantial evidence points to the guilt of the Rev. Ryan Erickson, the Hurley priest who committed suicide four months ago.
"We do not have a confession, but we do have some statements he (Erickson) made," Trende said. "We're going in the right direction. It appears we are close to wrapping things up. If there are some things different that turn up, it may change the whole scenerio.
"We have to verify information. We can't go to court with this one."
The murder investigation by Hudson Police into the shooting deaths of Dan O'Connell, 39-year-old father of two, and his 22-year-old intern began in February 2002, after the two were found slain at a funeral home operated by O'Connell. There were few developments in the case until detectives traveled to Hurley late last year to question Erickson. ...
When investigators came to Hurley late last year, they also questioned Erickson about an allegation of a crime involving a child or children. Trende said both the murder case and the possible crime against a child or children were being handled at the same time. He would not comment on whether the cases were connected.
AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph
By LUKE McILVEEN and MARK SKELSEY
April 1, 2005
A SEX company which sells pornographic films with titles such as Fresh Meat has emerged as a key financial backer of children's rights crusader Hetty Johnston.
Adultshop.com was one of three porn companies which contributed a total of $4322 to Ms Johnston's failed bid for the Senate.
The internet porn shop -- which sells DVDs with titles such as Fresh Meat, 18 and Nasty and 18 and Easy -- gave Ms Johnston more than $1500 to run for the Senate.
Ms Johnston -- who led the campaign against former governor-general Peter Hollingworth over his handling of child sex abuse by other clergy -- has gone to ground and is refusing to comment on the scandal.
She this week denied being a hypocrite for accepting money from hard-core pornographers to further her political career.
HAYWARD (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The drug and alcohol problems and anxiety that have plagued two former altar boys are in large part the result of the brothers' being victimized as children by a sexually abusive priest, two clinical psychologists testified Wednesday in the civil case against the Oakland Diocese.
Tom Thatcher, 33, suffered from "social phobia" and a methamphetamine addiction after the Rev. Robert Ponciroli abused him in the early 1980s at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch, psychologist Thomas Joiner of Tallahassee, Fla., told a Hayward jury.
Thatcher's troubles emerged when he hit puberty, becoming confused in sexual and social situations, Joiner said. Memories of the abuse were "like a time bomb in his head that really exploded in adolescence," Joiner testified.
Thatcher's brother, Bob, 34, meanwhile, developed generalized anxiety disorder, abused alcohol, had intimacy issues with his wife and was overcome with guilt that both he and his brother had fallen victim to Ponciroli, psychologist Janet Sonne told jurors.
TEXAS
TCU Magazine
By Saedra Pinkerton
Escorted by officials into the high-security prison in Huntsville, Texas, documentary filmmaker Lisa Freberg '85 was far from the career she set out to claim when she left TCU with a radio-TV-film degree.
She had created a dream résumé after graduation, making commercials for corporate giants Nike, Budweiser and McDonald's. She established herself in the Dallas market, then made the producer's quintessential leap, heading west to Los Angeles where her career flourished.
It was Freberg's sister, a California attorney, and a beleaguered young client she was helping who inspired Freberg to focus on a radically different genre. The decision would involve a heartbreaking journey into the lives of sexually exploited boys -- and into the minds of the Catholic priests who hurt them.
Freberg's sister took on her first abused client in 1997, years before the priest abuse scandal hit the national media. Since attorney-client privilege prevented her sister from discussing the case, Freberg turned to the court record to learn more.
"When I read it, I wept," she remembers. "The priest was a really sick man. And the leadership of the church didn't do anything to help him or the victim. I thought, ‘This needs to be exposed.' "
CANADA
Edmonton Sun
CP
LONDON, Ont. -- A Brazilian couple filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of London, claiming sexual harassment by a priest at a London church. In their statement of claim, the couple allege the priest used his position as their spiritual leader and supporter of their immigration application first to demand sexual favours from the woman and, later, to quell the complaint.
Jose and Isabel Do Prado, in Canada on visitor's and work visas while they apply for landed immigrant status, filed the $3.1-million suit in Superior Court in London.
Named as defendants are Rev. Lucio Xavier Couto, Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro and the diocese.
The diocese released a statement last night about the lawsuit: "The Diocese of London has received a statement of claim alleging misconduct by one of our priests. We take all such allegations very seriously. We are studying the statement of claim and we will prepare our response."
The statement of claim contains allegations not yet proven in court.
It states that Isabel Do Prado suffered "sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, sexual assault and battery" at the hands of Couto while working as a housekeeper at the rectory of Holy Cross church between September 2000 and May 2002.
SIOUX CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer
The number of pending clergy sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City is down to six after the recent settlement of several of the cases.
With 10 more settlements, 16 cases have been settled this month.
Of the recent settlements, nine alleged sexual abuse by the Rev. George McFadden. The other accused the late the Rev. Everett Apt.
All settlements included monetary payments to the alleged victims, but no total is being disclosed.
"Those victims that have completed settlement have taken the first step toward closure of the trauma inflicted upon them. Those victims who have settled have requested confidentiality in relation to the settlement details," said their attorney, Scott Rhinehart of Sioux City.
Mike and Dirk Jablonski, Kim Henshaw, Ron Verbeski, Kathleen Baker, Terri Huff, Delno J. Pinney III, Don Miller and Joseph Boyok all had alleged that McFadden had sexual contact with them while he was pastor of Sioux City's St. Francis of Assisi parish, which is now closed.
William Fisher had claimed Apt had sexually abused him while serving as pastor at Sacred Heart parish in Alvord.
SCRANTON (PA)
UofSNow.com
Written by Joshua P. Stewart
Thursday, 31 March 2005
SCRANTON - Former University of Scranton professor Fr. Albert Liberatore will face trial for three felony abuse charges May 4 in a Manhattan court.
Liberatore faces a single charge of first degree sodomy which is defined by New York as "deviate sexual intercourse with another person by forcible compulsion or who is incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or who is less than eleven years old or who is less than thirteen years old and the actor is eighteen years old or more," and two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree which, according to New York statute, is sexual contact by force or threat of force.
According to New York penal statutes, if convicted of any of the charges, Liberatore would have to register as a sex offender. The sodomy charge carries up to a 25 year imprisonment. The two abuse charges carry up to seven year imprisonments each.
In May 2004 Liberatore was arrested in Lackawanna County following allegations that he sexually abused a former altar boy from his parish, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea. According to documents from Luzurne County district attorney David Lupas, multiple incidents of sexual abuse occurred in Liberatore's office in St. Thomas Hall.
The allegations were the result of an investigation in Luzurne and Lackawanna Counties initiated by the Diocese of Scranton, Luzurne County district attorney records say.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Mass.— Two Roman Catholic bishops are among seven deceased priests named in a clergy sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a Texas man serving a 50-year prison sentence for murder.
Church officials said they have found nothing in their records to support the allegations, and defended the late bishops and priests.
William E. Burnett, 64, claimed in the suit, filed Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court, that he was abused in the 1950s by several priests, including former Springfield Bishop Christopher Weldon, former Worcester Bishop Timothy Harrington and former Monsignor Raymond J. Page.
Burnett, a Springfield native, who currently is serving a 50-year prison sentence for the 1990 murder of a Texas businessman, claimed in the suit that he was introduced to the other clergy by Page, who was his uncle.
His lawyer, Carmine Durso of Boston, said his client had passed two lie detector tests.
However, church officials questioned Burnett's motives and credibility.
VATICAN CITY
Boston.com
March 31, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- The pope on Thursday accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Mulvee as leader of the Providence, R.I., Diocese, submitted for reason of age, the Vatican said.
Mulvee turned 75 on Feb. 15, the normal retirement age for bishops.
Pope John Paul II named Bishop Thomas Tobin of Youngstown, Ohio, as Mulvee's successor, the Vatican said.
Mulvee was ordained in 1977 as auxiliary bishop of Manchester, and was named the Bishop of Wilmington, Delaware in 1985. He joined the Providence Diocese in 1995 as Coadjutor Bishop, and was named bishop two years later.
He previously served at a number of parishes in New Hampshire, and received his doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
Mulvee has said that he will remain active in the church, even after his retirement.
The Providence Diocese is the 25th largest diocese in the United States, and covers the state of Rhode Island, with 152 parishes and about 679,000 members.
It reached a $14.5 million settlement last year with 37 people who had sued the diocese over clergy sexual abuse.
BROWNSVILLE (TX)
Brownsville Herald
By LAURA B. MARTINEZ
The Brownsville Herald
March 31, 2005 — Discussions are under way for the establishment of a local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Miguel Prats, state coordinator for the Texas chapters, said he has been in “serious discussions” with victims of abuse for setting up a Rio Grande Valley chapter.
“The chances are good that we will have a chapter, but there is a lot to starting a SNAP chapter,” Prats said in a telephone interview from Houston. “When I’m dealing with victims, I have to give them plenty of space. … We have already been through hell and back.”
SNAP is a volunteer self-help organization comprised of survivors of clergy sexual abuse and the survivors’ supporters. Its mission is to support one another by healing and by pursuing justice and institutional change by holding perpetrators responsible and the church accountable, according to its mission statement.
Prats said the discussion of a Valley Chapter began less than two weeks ago following the March 16 publication of a story of former Monsignor Ivan M. Rovira’s alleged abuse of two boys that happened 24 years ago.
CANADA
London Free Press
JOE BELANGER, Free Press Reporter 2005-03-31 03:23:34
A couple from Brazil filed a $3.1-million lawsuit yesterday against the Roman Catholic diocese of London, claiming sexual harassment by a priest at a London church. The couple alleges the priest used his position as their spiritual leader and supporter of their immigration application, first to demand sexual favours from the woman and later to quell the complaint.
Jose and Isabel Do Prado, who are in Canada on visitors' and work visas while they apply for landed immigrant status, filed the suit yesterday in Superior Court.
In an interview, Jose Do Prado said the couple filed the lawsuit because they want people to know the truth.
"We don't want people to be misled. We want justice."
Named as defendants are Rev. Lucio Xavier Couto, Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro and the diocese.
In a statement last night, the diocese said: "The diocese of London has received a statement of claim alleging misconduct by one of our priests. We take all such allegations very seriously. We are studying the statement of claim and we will prepare our response."
The statement of claim contains allegations not yet proven in court. It states that Isabel Do Prado suffered "sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, sexual assault and battery" at the hands of Couto while working as a housekeeper at the rectory of Holy Cross Church between September 2000 and May 2002.
The suit claims that when the Do Prados confronted Couto, both were "wrongfully" fired.
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Melanie Burney
Inquirer Staff Writer
A former altar boy says he was sexually abused by three former priests in Cumberland County, but repressed the childhood memories for years.
In a civil suit filed yesterday in state Superior Court in Camden, Darren K. Leibow of Millville also alleges that top church officials, living and dead, conspired to cover up the abuse.
The lawsuit alleges the abuse occurred between 1986 and 1991 and involved priests then assigned to St. Michael's Church in Cedarville. Two have died, and the third was defrocked.
At the time, Leibow, now 28, was head altar boy at Our Lady of Lakes in Laurel Lake, a mission chapel of St. Michael's.
The priests gave Leibow gifts, such as money, baseball cards and a cross, and used threats and intimidation to keep him from disclosing the abuse, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit mirrors a 1994 case brought by 23 men and women who said priests in the Camden Diocese had sexually abused them. Although a judge dismissed the complaints because the statute of limitations had expired, the diocese in 2003 agreed to pay the plaintiffs $880,000.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican
Thursday, March 31, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - Bishops Christopher J. Weldon and Timothy J. Harrington are among seven deceased priests being accused of sexual abuse by an imprisoned Texas murderer, whose brother has raised concerns about the validity of the claims.
The suit, which was filed yesterday in Hampden Superior Court by Boston lawyer Carmen L. Durso, names the Springfield and Worcester dioceses as defendants. The seven priests served in either one diocese or the other or both after the Springfield diocese was split in two in 1950 to create the Worcester diocese.
William E. Burnett, a 64-year-old Springfield native who is serving a more than 50-year sentence in prison for the 1990 murder of a retired businessman, said in the suit that he was introduced to the priests through his uncle, Monsignor Raymond J. Page, who also is accused by Burnett of abusing him. The abuse allegedly began around 1950, when the accuser was 9 years old.
The other priests named in the suit are the Revs. Bernard L. Doheny, George A. Berthiaume, James T. Walsh and Oscar Gatineau.
Diocesan and lay individuals expressed support for the accused priests and concerns about the accusations.
"We have nothing in our records that in any way would provide support for these allegations," said the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, in a statement.
"I would hope that the names of good priests and bishops who cannot defend themselves are not being impugned for ulterior motives," McDonnell's statement read.
UNITED STATES
Fort Worth Star-Telegrm
By Rachel Zoll
The Associated Press
America's Roman Catholic bishops started an online survey of clergy sex-abuse victims Wednesday, asking how the church can better help them recover and protect young people in the future.
Advocacy groups said they were pleased that the bishops wanted to improve their outreach. But they wondered what more could be said on the topic after three years of damaging revelations about dioceses mishandling abuse cases.
"The needs and complaints of survivors have been well-expressed time and time again," said Sue Archibald, head of the victim-advocacy group The Linkup. "I don't know what really remains unknown in terms of what the problems are. Rather than continuing to gather information, I'd much rather see action."
Through the Web site, the bishops are asking victims to evaluate how diocesan officials responded to abuse claims, where church leaders failed in their reaction and how they can support victims as they heal.
"The horrific experience of being sexually abused is best understood by the survivors of this crime," said Archbishop Harry Flynn, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Darren Barbee
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
A former Nolan Catholic High School employee ac-cused of sexually abusing a teen-ager in the 1980s has voluntarily stepped down from his post at a Missouri prep school while the religious order he belongs to investigates.
The man, a brother of the Marianist religious order, had a position of authority over students while he was a Nolan employee. He is not being identified because he has not been charged with a crime.
"He is specific in his denial that there was no inappropriate conduct with any of the students at any point in his career," said Diane Guerra, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marianist Province in St. Louis.
Guerra said that no allegations have been brought against the man in the two years he has been employed by the Missouri school. Parents of children who attend the Missouri school will be notified by letter about the allegations regarding his time at Nolan Catholic, Guerra said. The letter also asks anyone with additional information about sexual abuse to come forward.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
William E. Burnett of Texas, who court documents identify as a nephew of the late Monsignor Raymond J. Page, filed suit yesterday in Hampden Superior Court in Springfield alleging he was sexually abused during the 1950s by his uncle, as well as by Bishop Timothy J. Harrington and the Rev. Oscar Gatineau, all of whom were assigned to the Catholic Diocese of Worcester at the time, and by four clergymen assigned to the Springfield Diocese.
No public allegations of sexual misconduct have previously been made against the three. Mr. Burnett, 64, is serving a 60-year prison term in Tennessee Colony, Texas, on a murder charge.
The suit also names Bishop Christopher Weldon of Springfield and the Revs. Bernard L. Doheny, George Berthiaume and James Walsh, priests of the Springfield Diocese. All seven clergymen named in the suit are deceased.
Bishop Robert J. McManus said yesterday that the diocese learned of and investigated the allegations several years ago, finding no substance to them. “It is profoundly troubling that this suit is attempting to malign the reputations” of the three Worcester clergymen “who had dedicated themselves to serve the people of the Worcester Diocese and, now deceased, cannot defend themselves.”
Mr. Burnett is represented by Boston lawyer Carmen L. Durso, who said his client became eligible for parole in November. According to the suit, the abuse of Mr. Burnett started when he was 10 and continued until 1959. Mr. Durso said Mr. Burnett did not make the connection between the alleged sexual abuse and the harm that it caused him until 2002.
The lawsuit maintains that Mr. Burnett was sexually abused by Monsignor Page from age 10 to 16 after he told his uncle that Rev. Doheny had sexually abused him. The alleged incidents occurred at a cabin owned by Monsignor Page in Holland and at the rectory of St. Anne’s Shrine, Fiskdale, according to the suit. The alleged abuse was witnessed by Rev. Gatineau, according to the suit. Mr. Burnett claims that he was sexually abused by Rev. Gatineau from age 12 to13 in the Holland cabin and at the St. Anne rectory.
Mr. Burnett alleges he was sexually abused three times between age 11 and 15 by Bishop Harrington at the Holland cabin and at the St. Anne rectory, and that Monsignor Page witnessed the alleged incidents. Bishop Harrington became head of the Worcester Diocese in 1968.
Bishop McManus said the diocese interviewed Mr. Burnett’s family and conducted “a thorough examination of diocesan records” when the allegations first surfaced. The diocese reported the allegations to District Attorney John J. Conte’s office and notified Mr. Burnett of this, the bishop said.
The lawsuit, according to the bishop, “has left the Page family heartbroken as they bear one more injustice by this nephew of Monsignor Page, as Mr. Burnett is serving a 60-year sentence for murder in Texas. We fear that it is also an injustice to the victims who seek to have their credible stories of abuse heard in order to find healing in their lives,” Bishop McManus said.
“We stand by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which states explicitly, ‘When the accusation has proved to be unfounded, every step possible will be taken to restore the good name of the priest or deacon ,’ ” the bishop said.
FAIRBORN (OH)
WHIO
POSTED: 12:21 pm EST March 30, 2005
UPDATED: 2:15 pm EST March 30, 2005
FAIRBORN, Ohio -- Fairborn police arrested a Zanesville pastor Tuesday night who they said was looking for sex from a 14-year-old girl.
Police said Graham Phillips 24, from North Terrace Church in Zanesville, traveled to Fairborn, where he planned to meet the teen for sex. The teen he was chatting with online turned out to be a Fairborn detective.
Authorities said that Phillips had been chatting online with the undercover detective around St. Patrick’s Day. They said he even used the church’s computer for the online chats.
Investigators said Phillips had a hotel room key on him and said that he had reserved a room that he was going to take the 14-year-old girl to. Phillips is being held in the Fairborn Jail.
HUDSON (WI)
River Towns
By Meg Heaton
The Hudson Police Department may be nearing the end of its investigation into the murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison.
HPD Chief Dick Trende met with investigators Jeff Knopps and Shawn Pettee and others involved in the case earlier this week to review the information gathered over the three-year investigation.
Last year the investigation began to focus on Father Ryan Erickson's involvement in the case and in a separate investigation into his possible criminal activity involving minors. Erickson, who was an associate pastor at St. Patrick's Church at the time of the murders, committed suicide last December after being questioned about both investigations. He allegedly denied any wrongdoing to friends and in suicide notes he left behind.
Trende said significant information in both investigations has surfaced in recent weeks that has confirmed the department's interest in Erickson, and investigators have been spending time verifying it. Knopps said most of the people they have contacted have cooperated with them, and this has led to new or corroborating information.
BEAVERTON (OR)
KOIN
Tim Gordon, KOIN News 6
BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Near Beaverton during Easter mass, a 10-year-old girl says she was the victim of a sex-related crime.
Detectives are investigating the case, where a man allegedly exposed himself to the girl.
A peaceful place, celebrating one of Christianity's most important days. Now Holy Trinity Catholic Church is dealing with an un-holy event.
"Yes, we put a notice in the bulletin about it and we'll be speaking about it to people also," Father John McGrann said.
McGrann is talking about what apparently happened to a 10-year-old girl on Easter Sunday, when she went unattended to the bathroom.
The girl told the priest that during the busy mass, she was lured by a man she didn't know. He allegedly exposed himself to her, and convinced her to do the same.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey Herald
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Summaries of the personnel files of about 200 priests named in civil molestation lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will become public within two weeks unless the state Supreme Court steps in.
A judge had ordered a temporary ban on making the summaries public while an attorney representing 26 of the accused priests filed a petition with the 2nd District Court of Appeals. On Tuesday, the three-member appellate panel rejected attorney Donald Steier's petition to make the ban permanent, meaning the files could become public as early as April 12 when the temporary ban expires.
Steier said Wednesday he would likely ask the California Supreme Court to review the case.
The summaries, called "proffers," were prepared by plaintiff and archdiocese attorneys as part of a court-ordered mediation process aimed at settling some 550 molestation lawsuits filed against the archdiocese. The lawsuits were filed under a 2002 state law that suspended for one year the statute of limitations for filing civil molestation claims.
"(The summaries) were prepared pursuant to mediation orders and those are clearly protected from disclosure in the absence of a waiver from all of the interested parties," Steier said.
Ray Boucher, the lead plaintiffs' attorney, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.
NORTH CAROLINA
NBC 17
POSTED: 4:26 pm EST March 30, 2005
UPDATED: 4:38 pm EST March 30, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A judge on Wednesday refused to lower a $1 million bond on a Cary youth minister charged in a child pornography case.
Jeffrey Morgan Smith, 41, was charged Tuesday by Apex police with nine counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor and one count of third-degree exploitation of a minor.
The charges stem from photos of nude children that were e-mailed from Apex to a teenager in Rockford, Ill., police said.
"Some were individual, some were not. Some were more than one child in the photo," said Sgt. Ann Moore, of the Apex Police Department.
For the past three years, Smith has worked as youth and family pastor at Peace Presbyterian Church, in Cary, where he primarily worked with high school students.
"We don't feel like he has molested any children or that any children in the youth group at church or in this area need to be concerned," Moore said.
Police searched Smith's Apex home on March 15 and confiscated several computers. His church office wasn’t searched.
NEW YORK
Editor & Publisher
By Graham Webster
Published: March 30, 2005 6:00 PM ET
NEW YORK The San Francisco Chronicle ran an unusually long correction this week amending a two-week-old story about a preliminary ruling in two cases of alleged sexual abuse by clergymen.
The blog Regret The Error called attention to the five-paragraph correction.
"The story was essentially a story about the judge's ruling that punitive damages could be sought in the case," Steve Proctor, deputy managing editor at the Chronicle, told E&P. "Fundamentally the story itself was not wrong." But both the headline and the story's text, however, could be misleading, he said.
The correction came after a lawyer for the Catholic Church sent a letter to the Chronicle's publisher with copies of the March 11 story and the court transcript, noting inconsistencies.
WASHINGTON (DC)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
WASHINGTON (March 30, 2005)—The U.S. Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse has launched a survey of survivors of clergy sexual abuse of minors to get input into improving the church’s response to the problem and its prevention.
The survey will be conducted by Mary A. Lentz, an Ohio-based child abuse prevention consultant. It will be available on-line March 30-May 4 on the website dedicated exclusively to this project, www.victim-outreach.com.
It will not be possible for anyone to determine the identity of respondents, who also are asked not to identify themselves, their abuser, or the abuser’s diocese or eparchy or religious community. Instructions stress that “Reports of abuse are to be made to law enforcement officials and officials of the diocese/eparchy where the abuse occurred.”
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Mabis Wood, a founding member of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch, couldn't understand why her 13-year-old son, Troy, suddenly refused to go anywhere near "Father Bob."
It was 1982. Troy had always looked up to the priest, the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, as a second father. He'd served as one of his parish altar boys and volunteered to cut the grass outside his suburban rectory.
"Troy started having all these excuses for not going over to cut the lawn, '' Mabis Wood recalled in a Hayward courtroom Tuesday. "He didn't want to be around the church and he did not want to talk about why.''
Wood and her husband questioned their son and found out why.
Troy Wood explained the reason in court himself on Tuesday. He said he had been enticed up to the priest's bed, told to take off his shirt and grabbed from behind for an extended round of "tickling."
UNITED STATES
Boston Herald
By Associated Press
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - Updated: 11:41 AM EST
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops said Wednesday that they are asking victims of clergy sex abuse around the country to fill out a survey on how church leaders can better help them recover and protect young people from predators in the future.
Through the Web site www.victim-outreach.com, the bishops are asking victims to evaluate how diocesan officials responded to their abuse claims, what church leaders could have done better and how they can support victims heal.
``The horrific experience of being sexually abused is best understood by the survivors of this crime,'' said Archbishop Harry Flynn, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The survey is anonymous, with researchers promising that there will be no way to identify victims who participate. Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops' conference, said safeguards have been built in to weed out any fake responses.
The abuse crisis began in January 2002 with the case of one accused priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, then spread throughout the country and beyond. Since then, the bishops have adopted a toughened discipline policy dealing with guilty clergy, enacted child protection and victim outreach plans in dioceses and removed hundreds of accused priests from church work.
IRELAND
One in Four
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times
Nine of Ireland's 26 Catholic dioceses have yet to indicate how much they contributed to the church's Stewardship Trust and how this money was raised.
All nine are in the Republic and include the archdioceses of Tuam and Cashel & Emly.
Trustees of the Stewardship Trust, which is responsible for paying the cost of compensation and services to victims of clerical child sex abuse, are the four Catholic archbishops in Ireland.
These include the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, and the Archbishop of Cashel & Emly, Dr Dermot Clifford.
The remaining dioceses yet to disclose are Achonry, Ardagh & Clonmacnoise, Meath, Kildare & Leighlin, Killaloe, Cashel & Emly, Ossory, and Cloyne.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Wednesday March 30th 2005
THE central fund set up by the Catholic bishops to compensate abuse victims and pay for child protection services may be radically restructured as concerns grow in the hierarchy that it is not working as intended.
There are concerns that some dioceses are drawing on the trust to a disproportionate extent, resulting in a potentially unfair financial drain on other dioceses.
The Stewardship Trust established in 1996 received a €10m cash injection from Church & General, the Church's insurer. That money has all but run out, meaning the trust is now funded directly by the 26 dioceses, with €5m a year.
Sources in the hierarchy have told the Irish Independent of growing concerns on how the trust is run.
While the trust has to date paid €8,781,592 to dioceses to help with compensation payments, €6.22m of this, or 70pc, has gone to just two dioceses, Dublin and Ferns. Dioceses are paying into the fund according to their share of the Catholic population.
If this trend continues, it could mean that dioceses with few claims against them could end up heavily subsidising others. There is also wide variance between what different dioceses pay to victims. The average payout from the Dublin diocese is about €91,000, including costs, while the diocese of Killaloe has paid an average of €132,000 to two victims, also including costs.
NEW YORK
New York Newsday
BY HERBERT LOWE
STAFF WRITER
March 29, 2005, 7:45 PM EST
A Pentecostal minister and his wife lashed out at his accusers Tuesday after a Queens jury found him not guilty of having sex with a teenage church member after telling her God wanted him to.
Bishop William Waynes happily left State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens with his wife and supporters, while the alleged victim, her family and other former congregation members lagged behind, disappointed.
"Any pastor that would accept these people as members, beware," said Waynes, 47, pastor of New Beginnings Outreach Love Center in East Elmhurst.
His wife, Eunice Waynes, said "I really feel very bad" for the young woman, now 21, who testified that William Waynes first kissed and fondled her when she was 15 -- and then seduced her into a four-year sexual affair after telling her it would help her become a great evangelist.
"I'm sad that she is a schizophrenic and a pathological liar," said Eunice Waynes.
However, at least two jurors among the panel of 10 women and two men said they believed the woman, even if they could not vote to convict on the charges, third-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child.
"We knew that he was wrong, but they didn't prove it," Juror No. 2, who would not give her name, said of the prosecution. "It's not that we didn't think he was guilty," said Juror No. 3, who only gave her first name, Ashley. "It's just that there was insufficient evidence."
NEW YORK
New York Post
By ALEX GINSBERG
March 30, 2005 -- A Queens minister on trial for seducing an underage parishioner into a church-office tryst five years ago strode out of court yesterday — cleared of all charges.
"I want to thank the men and women of the jury and certainly my attorney and my wife and family," said a restrained William Waynes, flanked by scores of loyal parishioners, several acting as bodyguards.
But the newly cleared holy man didn't stay on the high road for long, lashing out at his accuser and her family.
"Any pastor that would accept these people as parishioners, beware," he said.
And the pastor's wife, Eunice Waynes, took a shot at the accuser, telling reporters, "I'm sorry to have learned that she is a schizophrenic and a pathological liar."
Waynes, the 47-year-old pastor of the New Beginning Outreach Love Center on Northern Boulevard in Corona, was cleared of third-degree rape and child-endangerment charges after less than three hours of jury deliberation.
NORTH CAROLINA
WFMY
Raleigh, NC -- A youth minister is being held in jail after authorities accused him of sending pornographic pictures by e-mail to a 16-year-old in Illinois.
Jeffrey Morgan Smith of Apex is charged with nine counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor and one of third-degree exploitation. He's being held under a million dollars bail.
Apex police say arrest warrants accuse Smith of sending pornographic photos of boys to the teenager, who lives in Rockford, Illinois. Investigators don't believe he took or created the photos. Warrants also say Smith had a pornographic picture of the Illinois youth.
Smith worked as a pastor for youth and family at Peace Presbyterian Church in Cary, which church officials say is a parish of the Presbyterian Church in America.
TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL
TOLEDO -- A judge has sentenced a Roman Catholic deacon to three years and one month in prison for possession of child pornography. 46-year-old J. Michael Tynan pleaded guilty in November after US Customs agents confiscated his laptop last June and found more than 600 pornographic images.
The Reverend Michael Billian, a spokesman, says the Toledo Diocese has asked the Vatican to remove Tynan from the ministry. Until that happens, Tynan remains an ordained deacon.
In a story first broadcast last October, News 11 reported Tynan was an intern at Saint Aloysius Church in Bowling Green for about 10 months. The diocese says it has not had any complaints about Tynan at that church. "Nothing came up in any of the evaluations that there was something inappropriate," said Billian in an interview from October 2004.
The pastor of Saint Aloysius, Father Ed Schleter, didn't go on camera in October, but did say he thought Tynan was going to be a good priest, and related well with all ages. He calls the news about Tynan's charges disappointing and discouraging.
LAWRENCE (MA)
Boston Globe
By David Abel, Globe Staff | March 30, 2005
A Catholic high school in Lawrence fired its volunteer chaplain yesterday, after it was alleged the priest had sent inappropriate electronic messages to students.
The Reverend Michael C. Randone, 36, also resigned yesterday as pastor of Haverhill's Sacred Hearts Parish, where he had served since July 2003, said officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
A spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said the office is investigating the allegations against Randone.
One instant message sent under Randone's screen name included what Lawrence Central Catholic High School officials called offensive content. A family member of the recipient notified the school, triggering the investigation that resulted in Randone's firing last week.
Randone denied sending the message and told school officials someone must have used his account to send the message.
It was allegedly the third time Randone had violated the school's policy on ''appropriate boundaries" between adults and students.
He received a verbal warning in 2002 and a written warning in 2003 for what school officials described as ''off-campus contact with students, unrelated to school business."
Central Catholic's president, Brother Richard Van Houten, said yesterday that in one of the earlier incidents, Randone was seen in a restaurant with a group of young people and that in the other he was seen with a group of young people in a car. There ''was absolutely nothing criminal or sexual," Van Houten said, but ''socializing with kids off campus is something we don't permit."
LAWRENCE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - Updated: 04:51 AM EST
A priest has resigned as pastor of a Haverhill church after he was fired from his position as a school chaplain for exchanging ``inappropriate'' electronic messages with three students, officials said.
The Rev. Michael C. Randone resigned from Sacred Heart parish after Central Catholic High School in Lawrence fired him last week, based on three violations of its policy discouraging off-campus contact with students that is unrelated to school business.
None of the three instances school officials were able to verify were sexual in nature, said Brother Richard Van Houten, the school's president, but one message, which Randone denies sending, included ``offensive content.''
MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
BY STEVE SCOTT
Pioneer Press
Tensions flared again between a clergy sex-abuse victims group and Roman Catholic Church leaders in St. Paul over the identification of an alleged perpetrator who has been dead more than three decades.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis earlier this month revealed that one new alleged perpetrator of child sex abuse was identified last year but said it will not identify him because he is deceased.
The Minnesota chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Tuesday named a priest it believes committed the abuse.
The archdiocese vigorously defended the priest identified by Minnesota SNAP as innocent and called the group's actions "grossly negligent and irresponsible.''
"This is an outrageous falsehood that defames the name and career of a faithful and beloved priest,'' Archbishop Harry Flynn said in a statement. "It is beyond comprehension that anyone would be this irresponsible and callous.''
Belinda Martinez, survivor liaison for Minnesota SNAP, said the group identified the priest based on earlier reports that the recently accused priest died in 1971. TheAbuse Tracker Catholic Directory shows five priests in the archdiocese died in 1971.
CALIFORNIA
Regret the Error
The San Francisco Chronicle has published a lengthy correction after it apparently "mischaracterized" comments by a judge in a case against the Catholic Church. "Sensationalized" may be a better description.
A March 11 story about a lawsuit filed against the Catholic Church in Oakland, alleging the diocese allowed two brothers to be molested by a priest the church knew to be a child molester, mischaracterized comments made by the judge in the case.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard did not "rip" the actions of the church, as stated in the headline.
The story also mischaracterized Judge Sheppard's comments when it stated: "Calling the Catholic Church's conduct 'outrageous, oppressive and malicious,' an East Bay judge ruled Thursday that two alleged sexual abuse victims may seek punitive damages against the Diocese of Oakland." The judge's full remark was: "The conduct of the church as alleged text: and I'm not saying what's going to be proven, because I don't know what's going to be proven text: but as alleged, the conduct is outrageous, oppressive and malicious as alleged, and it was done with a conscious disregard for persons that they were entrusted to protect, being children."
WEST VIRGINIA
WVNS
Story by Josh DeVine Email | Bio
It was a note featuring a cartoon character on the front and an invitation for sex inside.
Detectives say 53-year-old Robert James Duke walked into the Church of God in Liberty Addition and sat down behind a unidentified 9-year-old girl.
Duke's registry on the State Police Web site spells out his prior crimes, including 10 counts of sexual abuse and sexual assault on three boys.
The church's pastor, speaking exclusively with West Virginia Media said he knew about the man's past and that parishioners watched closely over his actions and interactions with children.
That foresight saved the innocence of the 9-year-old girl.
Harrison County Prosecutor Joe Shaffer said a man sitting next to the young girl saw what Duke had written. Shaffer said he instantly took the note from the girl before she had a chance to read it.
CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
11:32 PM PST on Tuesday, March 29, 2005
By MARY BENDER / The Press-Enterprise
A jury on Tuesday convicted a former youth pastor and onetime volunteer Corona Centennial High School football coach of 15 felony counts involving sexual abuse of two teenage girls.
The six-man, six-woman jury found Joseph Mario Arredondo Jr., 29, guilty of having sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation and penetration with a foreign object. The girls, 15 and 17 years old at the time, were students at Corona High School and members of Norco-based New Beginnings Christian Church, according to Deputy District Attorney Blaine Hopp.
"He took advantage of a position of trust and a position of authority and exploited it. Both of the girls had been counseled by him," Hopp said.
The trial before Riverside Superior Court Judge Russell Schooling began March 14. The jury reached a verdict on Monday, but it was sealed until Tuesday, when all parties were available to return to court, Hopp said. Arredondo will be sentenced June 10 and faces up to 13 years in prison.
"My client is innocent. The jury made a mistake," defense attorney Alexander Petale said Tuesday evening by telephone.
EDINBURG (TX)
The Monitor
March 30,2005
Brittney Booth
The Monitor
EDINBURG — Former Trinity Worship Center minister Robert Dale Franklin will spend six months in jail and a decade on probation after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy who he had agreed to spiritually mentor.
State District Judge Mario Ramirez on Tuesday sentenced Franklin, 38, after hearing testimony from the boy’s family, Franklin’s supporters and Franklin himself.
"There is no excuse for any of your actions," the judge told Franklin who pleaded guilty last week to two felony counts of sexual assault and admitted to a drug problem.
Franklin’s guilty plea halted a jury trial and allowed him to avoid 10 other felony counts a grand jury indicted him with, including charges he gave marijuana and cocaine to the boy.
In addition to the jail time and probation, Ramirez ordered Franklin to complete 240 hours of community service and pay a $10,000 fine.
UNITED STATES
The Heartland Institute
Written By: Brian L. Carpenter
Published In: School Reform News
Publication Date: April 1, 2005
Publisher: The Heartland Institute
Like urban public schools across America, urban Catholic schools--especially in the Midwest and Northeast--are buckling under financial pressure. With expenses up and enrollments down, Catholic leaders often have no choice but to merge schools or shutter them altogether.
A report published in April 2004 by Sister Dale McDonald for theAbuse Tracker Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) indicates that during the 2003-04 school year, 123 Catholic schools nationwide were "consolidated or closed."
In February, the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago announced plans to close 23 elementary schools. Dozens more are slated to close in other cities.
But in contrast to their public school counterparts, research shows Catholic schools--even those predominantly serving poor, minority students--are often academically successful. ...
Added to these problems are shrinking charitable contributions to the church and parish closings. Catholic officials attribute these to a host of problems including financial losses from recent attention to past priest sexual abuse, economic conditions, and a shortage of priests entering the vocation. Ultimately, fewer parishes means less parish financial support for schools.
IRELAND
Waterford Today
By Deirdre Dalton
Waterford Today can reveal that the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore has to date, had no claims of child sexual abuse brought against them.
According to Fr. Liam Power, Communications Officer, Diocese of Waterford and Lismore “one claim concerning C.S.A (Child Sexual Abuse) has been brought but ultimately did not proceed.”
However it should be noted that this refers strictly to the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore and cases have been brought against other religious orders in Waterford who aren’t governed by the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.
Stewardship Trust
Meanwhile in 2004 the Diocese contributed e166,000 to the Stewardship Trust which was set up by the Catholic Church to fund compensation claims for individuals who suffered abuse by it’s members.
According to Fr. Power, “in 2004, having consulted with the priests of the diocese and the diocesan finance committee, which comprises priest and lay people, it was decided that the payment to the Stewardship Trust would be met from diocesan assets, voluntary contributions from the clergy and and increase of 2.5% on the existing 7.5% diocesan levy on parishes. However, after further consultation, it was decided that the 2.5% levy would not be held.”
Fr Power recognises that “the sums involved are significant for a diocese of our size but I am confident that we will meet whatever commitments may arise.”
HAYWARD (CA)
Tri-Valley Herald
By Matt O'Brien, STAFF WRITER
HAYWARD — A priest testifying in the first-ever civil clergy abuse trial against the Catholic Diocese of Oakland said Tuesday the diocese knew local priests were abusing young parishioners, but declined to call the police.
Another priest said he was moved to other parishes when allegations of sexual misconduct arose.
The testimony came in the second day of a civil trial in which two former Antioch altar boys are accusing the diocese of failing to protect them from a pedophile priest, the Rev. Robert Ponciroli.
Rev. George Crespin, the diocese's former personnel director, admitted in a deposition videotape relayed to jurors that "it wasn't our practice" to contact police about sexual abuse allegations.
HAYWARD (CA)
The Argus
By Matt O'Brien, STAFF WRITER
HAYWARD — A former Fremont priest, in a videotaped deposition unveiled Tuesday during the first-ever civil clergy abuse trial against the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, said church leaders knew local priests were abusing young parishioners but declined to call the police.
Another former Fremont priest said he was moved to other parishes after he admitted molesting a boy in the mid-1970s.
That priest, the Rev. Robert Freitas — who served for more than 30 years at parishes in Fremont, Newark and other East
Bay cities — testified in the case in which two former Antioch altar boys are accusing the diocese of failing to protect them from a pedophile priest, the Rev. Robert Ponciroli.
The other priest, the Rev. George Crespin, who also has been accused of sexual abuse, admitted in a videotape played for jurors that "it wasn't our practice" to contact police about sexual abuse allegations.
Crespin was the diocese's former personnel director.
Officials of the diocese, which encompasses Alameda and Contra Costa counties, acknowledge that Ponciroli abused brothers Tom and Bob Thatcher.
HAYWARD (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Randy Myers
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
HAYWARD - Testimony in two former altar boys' sex suit against the Catholic Diocese of Oakland sped forward Tuesday as jurors heard how church notes about priests abusing children were lost or destroyed.
A priest who admitted molesting children also took the stand.
Robert and Tom Thatcher are suing the diocese for compensatory damages for abuse they claim they suffered at the hands of defrocked priest Robert Ponciroli. The boys served as altar boys at St. Ignatius Church in Antioch from 1979 to 1981.
Robert Thatcher also is seeking punitive damages, an act that broadens the scope of the trial because it means plaintiffs attorney Rick Simons must establish that the diocese made a pattern of hiding the abuse. He began calling witnesses to help him do that Tuesday, the trial's second day of testimony.
Church leaders have conceded the diocese acted negligently in the case, but they say the behavior doesn't warrant punitive damages.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By MARK REITER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
A Toledo diocesan deacon who was two days away from ordination to the priesthood when authorities seized his computer last year in a child pornography investigation was sentenced yesterday to 37 months in prison.
J. Michael Tynan, 46, who was sentenced in U.S. District Court, withdrew his petition for the priesthood June 10 after U.S. Customs agents raided his home, taking a laptop computer that contained over 600 pornographic images, including those of children.
Tynan, of Lakeview, Ohio, pleaded guilty Nov. 1 to possession of child pornography.
Judge David Katz said the viewing of child pornography is the driving force behind the industry and the exploitation of unintentional victims, who are forced to participate in sex acts.
"It is much like the war on drugs: If you eliminate the user, you will eventually get at drying up the supply," he said.
Judge Katz said he will recommend Tynan be placed in Butner Federal Correctional Institute in North Carolina, where he can participate in a sex-offender program. He is not eligible for parole. Tynan also was ordered to serve five years of supervised probation after his release from prison.
LAWRENCE (MA)
Eagle-Tribune
By Shawn Boburg
Staff Writer
The Rev. Michael C. Randone has been fired as chaplain of Central Catholic High School and resigned as pastor of Haverhill's Sacred Hearts Church after it was discovered he was sending private electronic messages to several Central students.
At least one of the messages sent using Randone's on-screen name,
"padreraider," "had some sexual content and was improper and highly inappropriate," school officials said. ...
Randone was warned verbally in 2002 after he took a group of students out to dinner and in writing in 2003 after a student was seen in his car without proper authorization, school officials said. None of the violations the school was able to verify was sexual, but Central Catholic officials, sensitive to the clergy abuse scandal, said they could not guarantee that inappropriate conduct did not take place because the communication was unsupervised.
NORTH CAROLINA
Dunn Daily Record
By GREGORY PHILLIPS Of The Record Staff
Recent and ongoing cases of child abuse have highlighted a dichotomy within some local churches — how to reconcile accusations of abuse against a member while protecting the rest of the flock.
The first three months of 2005 have seen a succession of allegations of child molestation involving suspects who had access to children through churches. The question remains as to how much, if any, the pastors at the respective churches knew about what was going on and what action they should have taken.
Erwin mailman Lloyd Coats was charged with molesting more than 20 young girls, some while driving a bus for Erwin Church of God. Devan Black was charged with molesting boys while he was a commander in the Royal Rangers program at Gospel Tabernacle Church.
Another case resolved in Harnett County Superior Court last month has left the victim’s family concerned at the reluctance of the suspect’s pastor to discuss a confession the suspect made in a room full of people.
EL PASO (TX)
KFOXTV
AAbuse Tracker support group for victims of abuse by priests has opened an El Paso Chapter.
SNAP, or the Survivors Network for those Abuses by Priests, was started in El Paso by a man who claims he was abused by an El Paso priest decades ago, he tells KFOX "Its been very hard, my religion. I was religious before and its kind of really struck to the soul of my existence as far the people in charge denying responsibility."
SNAP will hold its first meeting in El Paso on April 7th at 6:30pm. For more information you can call 474-7499.
LAWRENCE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Associated Press
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - Updated: 03:45 PM EST
LAWRENCE, Mass. - A priest was fired from his post as the volunteer chaplain at a Catholic high school and resigned from his parish after he was accused of sending inappropriate electronic messages to students.
A spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said the office is also investigating the allegations against the Rev. Michael Randone, 36, who was pastor of Haverhill's Sacred Hearts Parish.
One instant message sent under Randone's screen name contained what Lawrence Central Catholic High school officials called ``highly inappropriate'' sexual content, The Eagle-Tribune newspaper reported. A family member of the recipient of that message notified the school, triggering the investigation that resulted in Randone's firing last week.
But Randone denied sending that message and told school officials someone must have accessed his account and sent the message using his online name, ``padreraider,'' which refers to the school's nickname, the Raiders.
LAWRENCE (MA)
News Channel 10
POSTED: 3:21 pm EST March 29, 2005
UPDATED: 3:27 pm EST March 29, 2005
LAWRENCE, Mass. -- A priest has been fired as chaplain of a Catholic high school in Lawrence after it was learned that he been instant messaging with three students.
The Boston archdiocese said the Rev. Michael Randone has also resigned as pastor of Sacred Hearts church in Haverhill.
Central Catholic High School president Richard Van Houten said Randone violated the school's policy on appropriate boundaries between adults and minors.
Van Houten said Randone had previously been warned twice about "off-campus contact" with students.
One of the messages, sent with the same screen name that Randone used in other communications, allegedly contained comments of a sexual nature. But Van Houten said the school was uanble to verify that Randone had sent that particular message.
SAN ANTONIO (TX)
WOAI
His name is Juan Pablo Delgado, and he claims to see visions of the Virgin Mary. He has several Catholic followers from San Antonio, who disobeyed an order by the Archbishop to stay away from this cult leader. Now a former follower is speaking out hoping others will listen to her warnings. Trouble Shooter Brian Collister has the follow up to his investigation.
Over the past 2 years Trevino traveled between San Antonio and Costa Rica to be near Delgado. She even stayed at the Cost Rican sanctuary where Delgado claims he sees visions of the Virgin Mary.
“I was very...touched by the apparition," recalls Trevino.
Trevino now says she feels betrayed, “For a while he had made himself king, well, now he thinks he's god.”
News 4 WOAI obtained pictures taken inside the compound showing Delgado acting and dresses like a priest. The photos show bloody wounds on his hands and feet, similar to those of the crucifixion of Jesus. His critics claim it's all an act. And Trevino, who has donated thousands of dollars of her own money to the cult leader, agrees. ...
This isn’t the first time the cult has been in the media spotlight. The doomsday cult made headlines when a former San Antonio priest, Father Alfred Prado, joined the group. Prado is accused of molesting young boys more than 30-years ago at St.Timothy’s on the Westside.
The Trouble Shooters tracked him down in Costa Rica last year to ask him about the allegations.
“What about the charges in Texas" asked Brian Collister.
“They're all false, they're nonsense," said Father Prado.
Prado, who claims he was spiritually called to Costa Rica to be Delgado’s advisor, still remains at the compound.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner
By DENNIS GABOURY
On Wednesday night, I participated in a extraordinary event at St. Raphael Catholic Church. At the invitation of Father Pat Berquist, I recounted the difficult story of my long recovery from sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, before an audience of about 80 parishioners and priests from around Fairbanks.
My appearance was the subject of an article that appeared in the News-Miner on Thursday. And I was saddened to read that the reporter, intent on recounting every prurient detail of my life before recovery, missed my points entirely.
I did not shed the armor of discretion to titillate readers or to seek pity for victims but to open a discussion with Catholics about the path to healing and recovery, both for victims of sexual abuse and for the Catholic church.
Clergy sexual abuse leaves a unique mark on the minds of children because it brings into question all their religious training and suppositions set against a criminal act. The years of self-abuse I engaged in were a direct result of an unconscious decision I made as a 10-year old child, the only decision a devoutly Catholic 10-year-old boy raped by a priest could possibly make given my prior indoctrination that I was a sinner and that priests were good and holy men.
SCRANTON (PA)
Scranton Times Tribune
By Chris Birk STAFF WRITER 03/29/2005
Slated to begin Monday, the sexual abuse trial of the Rev. Albert M. Liberatore in Manhattan, N.Y., was instead pushed back to early May.
The Diocese of Scranton priest, charged with three felony abuse charges in New York, will now face trial May 4, said Sherry Hunter, a spokeswoman in the Manhattan district attorney's office.
The New York charges -- one count of first-degree sodomy and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse -- are the most serious Father Liberatore faces in three separate jurisdictions, all stemming from abuse allegations levied by a University of Scranton student and former altar boy at Sacred Heart of Jesus church in Duryea.
In mid-July, Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas filed indecent assault, corruption of minors, child endangerment and furnishing liquor to a minor charges against Father Liberatore. Four months later, the alleged victim filed a wide-ranging civil suit against the priest, the diocese and others in U.S. District Court in Scranton.
The New York and Luzerne County charges were both filed July 15.
"We've been in active trial preparation for many, many months, and that will continue," Scranton attorney Larry Moran, who represents Father Liberatore, said last week, aware a continuance was coming.
HAYWARD (CA)
KESQ
HAYWARD, Calif. Testimony continues today in a civil trial involving two brothers who say they were molested by a priest while they served as altar boys more than two decades ago.
Bob and Tom Thatcher are suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, claiming they were molested by a priest at an Antioch church in 1980.
Jurors will have to decide whether to award damages to the Thatchers. The two brothers are seeking compensatory damages, and Bob Thatcher is also asking for punitive damages to prevent future sexual abuse by priests.
The Oakland diocese, which includes more than 80 parishes in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, does not deny the abuse occurred.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
In view of the recent attempt of Worcester Bishop Robert McManus to convince the public that the Diocese of Worcester has no responsibility associated with Father Thomas Teczar, the actual letter (s) transferring him from state to state are now posted.
These letters tell clearly that the Worcester Diocese and Attorney James Reardon were made fully aware of the implications associated with allowing Father Teczar to transfer to another state and serve as an active priest.
Mr. Reardon, the diocesan lawyer who wrote one of the letters, was associated with the Reardon and Reardon law firm. His son, Gavin Reardon, currently is the diocesan lawyer and would have been aware of the letter. This letter is labeled Hand delivered which is underlined. Obviously Bishop Timothy Harrington and the now deceased James Reardon has a conversation.
Auxiliary Bishop George Rueger, in writing to Bishop Delaney of the Diocese of Forth Worth, Texas, begins his letter with pleasantries associated with a trip to Rome for both himself and Bishop Harrington. With such casual discourse does Auxiliary Bishop Rueger send this "dangerous" priest to Texas. Auxiliary Bishop Rueger writes the Bishop (Harrington) would be anxious for us to undertake this process. No concern was shown for the innocent children, but concern to release the potential for liability of the Worcester Diocese and Bishop Harrington.
HAYWARD (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Randy Myers
HAYWARD - After the yard work was done, one brother waited at the bottom of the rectory's stairwell while the other went upstairs for his "punishment" at the hands of a sexually abusive priest.
That is how lead plaintiff attorney Rick Simons described the start of the sexual abuse of Robert and Tom Thatcher, two brothers and former Antioch altar boys who are suing the Oakland Diocese for damages in a decades-old molestation case at St. Ignatius.
"These events cost these boys dearly," Simons said during opening statements Monday in a Hayward courtroom.
Simons told the jury of 10 women and two men that the abuse robbed the brothers of their faith, their self-respect and a place to find solace. He said the defendant "gave the priest the green light."
The brothers' civil trial is part of the more than 150 Northern California sexual abuse lawsuits confronting dioceses after a California law lifted the statute of limitations for one year on the claims.
In his opening statement, Simons painted a portrait of the Thatchers as a devout but imperfect Catholic family whose trust and faith were betrayed by inaction of church personnel who were aware of Father Robert Ponciroli's behavior.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— In a letter sent to the priests of Catholic Diocese of Worcester, Bishop Robert J. McManus emphatically denies any agreement was made with the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, to allow the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar to take a position as priest in Texas.
Two men from Ranger, Texas, brought a civil suit in Fort Worth, Texas, alleging that the two dioceses conspired to move the priest from the Worcester Diocese to Fort Worth after allegations of sexual abuse arose in the local diocese.
In his letter to priests, which was sent Saturday andwas publicly posted at www.worcesterdiocese.org, Bishop McManus said both dioceses partially settled the lawsuit involving one of the alleged victims, but added that the Worcester Diocese will not pay any of the $1.4 million settlement because it had no responsibility for Rev. Teczar when he left the Worcester.
The bishop said the lawyers for the two alleged victims have maintained a “conspiracy” existed between the two dioceses. However, Bishop McManus said, such a conspiracy was impossible because the Worcester Diocese never agreed to Rev. Teczar’s ministry in Texas.
“The plaintiffs’ theory is based, among other things, on a Church-wide conspiracy among United States dioceses,” he said. “The plaintiffs’ attorney is determined to weave the facts of this particular matter into that theory whether the facts fit or not.”
Bishop McManus said that even though the Worcester Diocese revoked Rev. Teczar’s permission to function as a priest and never restored it, Bishop Joseph P. Delaney of Fort Worth authorized the priest to take an assignment in his diocese in 1988. According to Bishop McManus, former Worcester Bishop Timothy J. Harrington made it clear to Bishop Delaney that he did not give permission for Rev. Teczar to serve in Texas.
The identities of the two plaintiffs in the case have been sealed. The case of John Doe I, who was represented by Daniel J. Shea of Houston, was settled late Thursday night. Mr. Shea said he was told after the settlement was reached that indemnification existed between the two dioceses and the issue came up in the context of why Worcester was not going to pay any part of the settlement.
David A. Lewcon, of Uxbridge, an alleged victim of Rev. Teczar in the local diocese, said he found it disconcerting that the bishop “almost prides himself with the fact that nothing was paid out from Worcester. He never mentioned how much it cost the Catholic faithful paid in legal fees.” Mr. Lewcon has been active in various victim support and advocacy groups.
Tahira Khan Merritt of Dallas, lawyer for John Doe II, said that based on statements made by Bishop McManus in the Saturday letter to priests, she intends to call the bishop to Dallas to answer more questions under oath. She does not have to subpoena Bishop McManus since the diocese is a party to the suit.
The suit involving John Doe II was not settled and will go to trial in Fort Worth in July unless a settlement is reached. Ms. Khan Merritt could offer no explanation why one suit was settled and the other was not.
District Attorney Russ Thomason of Eastland County, Texas, said yesterday that Rev. Teczar still faces criminal charges of sexual abuse. That case will go to trial in Texas, but no date has been set yet, he said.
The district attorney said he is considering appointing Ms. Khan Merritt as a special prosecutor in the case because she is familiar with the situation and can assist with the prosecution. The criminal charges are in connection to alleged sexual abuse of John Doe II, who is Ms. Khan Merritt’s client. Mr. Thomason said such special appointments are regularly done in Texas.
Rev. Teczar, 64, who lives in Dudley, is currently free on $30,000 bail. He was arrested in Dudley in December 2002 on a warrant from Texas and again on a Texas governor’s warrant in March 2003. The charges are aggravated sexual assault of a child, which is a felony in Texas.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
An Adelaide woman who alleges she was raped by an Anglican priest says she is speaking out because she feels the church is not admitting what it has done wrong in the past.
The woman, who is now aged 62 and wants to be known as Jess, is suing the church, claiming she was raped by Reverend Leonard Goggs, who died in 1979.
The church has acknowledged Reverend Goggs is the father of Jess's twin boys but she says it has not provided any money to help raise the children, who are now adults.
Jess says an apology is not good enough and the church should beg for her forgiveness.
"I allowed this person to have his life, his wife, his parish and allowed him to die in office in peace," she said.
"I had to live a double life. I had to battle to keep my children. I went without lots of things."
The administrator of the church's Adelaide diocese, John Collas, says the woman was the victim of sexual abuse by a person in a position of trust.
He says the church is investigating the claim that she was raped.
AUSTRALIA
Keralanext.com
[Australasia News] A Catholic priest facing 29 child sex charges dating back to the 1970s has appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court for the start of his committal hearing.
Frank Gerard Klep, 61, has been charged by Sexual Crimes Squad detectives with 28 counts of indecent assault and one of buggery.
The offences involve eight boys and were allegedly committed at Sunbury between 1973 and 1979.
Klep, a member of the Salesian order, was a teacher at the order's Rupertswood College in Sunbury, on Melbourne's north-west fringe, during the period and eventually rose to become principal.
He left Melbourne in April 1998 to become the senior financial officer at a Salesian theological college in Samoa.
A month later, Klep was charged with five counts of indecent assault involving a 15-year-old student at the college that dated back to 1973.
HAYWARD (CA)
The Argus
By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER
HAYWARD — Jurors began hearing evidence Monday on whether the Diocese of Oakland's failure to protect two Antioch brothers from a pedophile priest was knowing disregard for their safety or ignorance and neglect.
Nobody disputes that Bob and Tom Thatcher, now in their 30s, were molested in 1980 by Robert Ponciroli, since defrocked and now living in Florida. This jury must decide whether the diocese let it happen and, if so, how much it should pay.
This is the first of dozens of lawsuits against the Diocese of Oakland, encompassing Alameda and Contra Costa counties, to come to trial; negotiations on a mass settlement continue elsewhere.
"In this case, you're going to learn about the betrayal of trust," Rick Simons, the Thatchers' attorney, told jurors as he began his opening statement.
He showed jurors color photos of Bob and Tom Thatcher as they were at the time they were molested: fresh-faced young altar boys, ages 10 and 8, respectively.
HAYWARD (CA)
CBS 5
03/28/05 9:30 PST
HAYWARD (BCN)
The attorney for two former altar boys at a Catholic church in Antioch said today that the Diocese of Oakland must be held accountable for a "betrayal of trust" that resulted in a priest molesting them.
In the first of what could be many sex abuse cases against the Diocese of Oakland, Richard Simons, representing Robert and Tom Thatcher, said in his opening statement that church officials were negligent in assigning the Rev. Robert Ponciroli to Antioch's St. Ignatius Church in 1979 even though they knew he was a child molester.
Simons said Ponciroli's sexual abuse of the Thatcher brothers in 1980, which church officials admit occurred, wasn't an isolated incident but instead was "part of a policy and practice of disregarding the safety of children" and looking the other way while "priests conducted criminal violations of children."
Robert Thatcher, who now lives in Arizona, was about 10 years old at the time and Tom Thatcher, who now lives in Florida, was about 9.
Simons asked for unspecified compensatory damages for both brothers, stating that they've suffered emotional problems such as anxiety and issues of sexual identity and confusion, ever since they were molested about 25 years ago.
Robert Thatcher is also seeking unspecified punitive damages.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Archdiocese acknowledged in court Monday that it had failed to thoroughly investigate a sex-abuse complaint against a priest in 1977, an unusual admission that comes as it and the Oakland Diocese face trials this week brought by alleged victims.
Both cases are receiving statewide attention because they are among the first to come to trial since the Catholic Church was hit by the abuse scandal three years ago. Legal experts said the amount of the settlements probably would influence the outcomes of more than 700 cases statewide, 544 of which involve the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
The San Francisco case involves Father Joseph T. Pritchard, now deceased, who is accused of molesting at least 22 children throughout the 1970s. In a statement read by a judge Monday to prospective jurors, the archdiocese admitted that it did not investigate "thoroughly enough or do enough at that time to protect the children."
The statement also acknowledged that three fellow priests "sometimes walked into the room where sexual molestation had been taking place and should have seen enough circumstances to make them suspicious of Father Pritchard's behavior" and reported it to his superiors.
HAYWARD (CA)
Mercury News
TERENCE CHEA
Associated Press
HAYWARD, Calif. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland practiced a policy of secrecy, negligence and disregard for children's safety that led to the sexual abuse of two altar boys more than 20 years ago, a plaintiffs' attorney argued at the start of a civil trial that could influence hundreds of similar cases throughout California.
"This was not an isolated incident," attorney Rick Simons told jurors Monday during opening statements. He said the diocese gave the Rev. Robert Ponciroli "the opportunity and green light for sexual molestation and abuse of children with actual knowledge of his history and knowing disregard of their safety."
The case, which involves two former Antioch altar boys suing the Oakland diocese, stems from one of more than 750 lawsuits that have been filed against Catholic dioceses in California since a 2002 state law temporarily lifted the statue of limitations on decades-old claims of sexual abuse by priests.
The case of brothers Bob and Tom Thatcher is the second lawsuit to go to trial, and the first that seeks punitive damages that could substantially raise the amount of money cash-strapped dioceses must pay to victims. Negotiations for settlements continue for more than 150 other sexual abuse lawsuits filed in Northern California.
NEW YORK
New York Daily News
"Then one of the 12, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests and said unto them, 'What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?' And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver." Matthew 26:14-15.
And so the high priests of Brooklyn and Queens waited until the Wednesday before Holy Thursday, the same day Judas struck his treacherous bargain to betray Jesus, to announce that St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School was getting the kiss of death.
A guilt-ridden Judas hung himself.
The Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens should at least hang its head in lasting shame.
This all started on Feb. 8 when Msgr. Michael Hardiman, the vicar of education for the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, first listed St. Thomas Aquinas, on Fourth Ave. and Eighth St. in Park Slope, as one of the 26 schools to be shuttered in June.
A changing demographic and the grotesque priest sexual-abuse scandals had helped crumble the once-rock-solid Catholic school system. It certainly didn't help that the former bishop, Thomas Daily, who came from Boston, was so busy covering his dirty tracks in the pedophile coverups up there that he let the Brooklyn and Queens parochial school system go into decline.
HAYWARD (CA)
KTVU
POSTED: 11:48 am PST March 28, 2005
UPDATED: 7:02 pm PST March 28, 2005
HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland practiced a policy of secrecy, negligence and disregard for children's safety that led to the sexual abuse of two altar boys more than 20 years ago, a plaintiffs' attorney argued Monday at the start of a civil trial that could influence hundreds of similar cases throughout California.
"This was not an isolated incident," attorney Rick Simons told jurors during opening statements. He said the diocese gave the Rev. Robert Ponciroli "the opportunity and green light for sexual molestation and abuse of children with actual knowledge of his history and knowing disregard of their safety."
The case, which involves two former Antioch altar boys suing the Oakland diocese, stems from one of more than 750 lawsuits that have been filed against Catholic dioceses in California since a 2002 state law temporarily lifted the statue of limitations on decades-old claims of sexual abuse by priests.
The case of brothers Bob and Tom Thatcher is the second lawsuit to go to trial, and the first that seeks punitive damages that could substantially raise the amount of money cash-strapped dioceses must pay to victims. Negotiations for settlements continue for more than 150 other sexual abuse lawsuits filed in Northern California.
The first case to reach trial ended Thursday when a San Francisco jury awarded $437,000 to 47-year-old Dennis Kavanaugh, a former altar boy who sued the Archdiocese of San Francisco claiming he was repeatedly abused by a San Jose priest in the early 1970s.
On Friday, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle claims by two victims molested by a Lodi priest who was later deported to Ireland.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
By Sam Lienert
29mar05
AN Adelaide woman is seeking financial compensation from the Anglican Church after bringing up twin boys fathered by a priest, who allegedly raped her.
The woman says she was raped when she was 19 by Father Leonard Russell Goggs in the vestry of Renmark Anglican church in 1962.
Adelaide diocese administrator Archdeacon John Collas said the church acknowledged the woman was a victim of sexual assault and that Father Goggs, who died in 1979, was the father of the twins.
But Archdeacon Collas said the church did not know whether she had been raped.
The woman's lawyer, Peter Humphries, said the church had provided almost no support to the woman or her children.
"Twin boys were born of this one sexual act and the church have apparently recognised the paternity of those boys almost from day one, but really not provided any assistance towards their upbringing and similarly offered not very much support to their mother," he said.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Editor & Publisher
By The Associated Press
Published: March 28, 2005 11:00 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia suspended a priest this month after he allegedly told a newspaper reporter that he had fondled a teenage girl several decades ago.
Church officials said they removed Msgr. Philip J. Dowling from all public ministry on March 18, the day they were informed by The Philadelphia Inquirer that the retired pastor had confessed during an interview to having engaged in "inappropriate" touching of a girl in his parish.
"It crossed the (line)," Dowling told the newspaper. "And I'm very sorry for the inappropriate acts and touches."
The newspaper said it interviewed Dowling three times this month as part of an investigation into allegations by two women, now in their 50s.
One of the women said the abuse started when she was 8 and continued until she was 14. The other sister said Dowling began abusing her when she was 11 or 12 and continued until she was 18.
DALLAS (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Anthony Spangler
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
DALLAS -- A suspended Grand Prairie priest was indicted last week on felony charges of possessing child pornography, court records show.
Father Matthew Bagert, 36, pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Northeast 17th Street, was arrested for having child pornography on a church computer.
The Dallas Catholic Diocese indefinitely suspended Bagert after they informed Grand Prairie police of the images.
HAYWARD (CA)
NBC 11
HAYWARD, Calif. -- A lawyer for two former altar boys at an Antioch church said Monday that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland gave "opportunity and a green light" to a priest who molested boys.
In his opening statement in the first of what could be many priest sex-abuse cases against the Oakland diocese, attorney Richard Simons said the diocese sent the Rev. Robert Ponciroli to St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch in 1979 even though officials knew his conduct at other churches "was not unblemished."
Simons said that Ponciroli abused Bob and Tom Thatcher in 1980 and said the brothers have suffered emotional problems, such as anxiety and issues of sexual identity and confusion, ever since.
Simons also said Ponciroli's actions weren't an isolated incident within the diocese but instead were part of the diocesan policy of "disregarding the safety of children."
FLUSHING (MI)
Flint Journal
Monday, March 28, 2005
By George Jaksa
gjaksa@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6332
FLUSHING - Patrick Antos and Anthony Otero got the chance in court to face the priest they said sexually abused them as children.
Now their parents want others to have the same opportunity.
Antonio and Elva Otero of Flushing and John and Lillian Antos of Mt. Morris Township are taking a stand in favor of the state Legislature lifting Michigan's statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases - the time in which such cases can be prosecuted.
The limit on prosecuting those cases is usually 10 years. The families want more time so other abusers can be prosecuted.
"Our children, Pat Antos and Tony Otero, had the opportunity in 2003 to put the man who sexually abused them as children behind bars," said Antonio Otero.
"We ask this question: Why should other men and women who were sexually abused as children not be afforded the same opportunity to prosecute their sexual abusers?"
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS 3
Mar 28, 2005 6:04 pm US/Eastern
PHILADELPHIA (KYW) A former Philadelphia priest has been suspended after two sisters reported years of sexual abuse.
Now, as CBS 3’s Robin Rieger reports, the priest has even admitted to fondling one of them.
The Philadelphia Archdiocese confirms Monsignor Philip Dowling is being investigated for allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
The investigation comes after the Philadelphia Inquirer told Diocesan officials on March 18th that Dowling admitted to a reporter that decades ago he engaged in inappropriate touching of a girl.
However, Dowling denied abusing her sister.
The women told the newspaper the abuse went on for years and one sister says she was raped.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
National
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
On March 19, I spoke at a Voice of the Faithful conference on Long Island, N.Y. Some 500 people showed up -- mostly, I'm sure, drawn by Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, the prophet who anticipated the American sexual abuse crisis back in the 1980s, and by the opportunity to network with one another.
I missed Doyle's presentation, because I had to come out to Long Island by the morning train. According to a Newsday report, however, he told the group that, "The issue is basically power," urging laity to "move from infancy to adulthood" in their attitudes toward church leaders.
The nation's bishops, he reportedly said, "are still putting a Band-Aid over a cancer."
Doyle today works as an addiction counselor in Maryland.
The on-going fallout of the crisis was clear at the gathering. The corridors outside the hotel ballroom, for example, were dominated by posters containing information on 39 priests accused of abuse who had either worked for, or in, the Rockville Centre diocese, the main ecclesiastical jurisdiction on Long Island. The posters were produced by BishopAccountability.org, a reform organization that has also posted data on the group's web site.
SALEM (MA)
Salem News
The Easter Sunday just past was an especially joyous one for the Rev. Edward Keohan, who returned to the pulpit for the first time in 19 months.
The beloved former pastor of the closed St. Mary's Italian Catholic Church in Salem and Salem Hospital chaplain, had been living under a cloud since a Gloucester man said he'd been abused by Keohan in the early 1980s. Last week the Boston Archdiocese said it could find no evidence of such abuse and authorized Keohan, 73, to resume his official duties.
Remarkably, Keohan evidences no bitterness towards his accuser or the church, and says he is simply looking forward to resuming his vocation of 40 years, though he is still not sure of his next assignment.
The fact that other priests have been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of such abuse, and the church has paid out millions to settle claims of misconduct, does not lessen the extent of the injustice Keohan has suffered. Few can imagine the pain he has had to endure since learning of the accusations and suspension via a friend — who himself heard about it from the TV.
AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail
By Nigel Hunt
29mar05
AN Adelaide woman who gave birth to twin boys after being raped by an Anglican priest is seeking compensation from the church.
Lawyers acting for the woman, 62, have notified the church of the claim, but it has not acknowledged correspondence seeking an out-of-court settlement.
This is despite the church's hierarchy – both past and present – conceding that Father Leonard Russell Goggs, who died in 1979, was the father of the twins.
Although the church – including former Anglican Archbishop Keith Rayner – acknowledged to the woman, who wishes to be known only as Jess, that Father Goggs was the father, she has had no financial or pastoral assistance.
Duncan Basheer Hannon lawyer Susan Litchfield said yesterday she would lodge a claim against the church in the District Court after failing to secure a settlement.
HAYWARD (CA)
CBS 5
03/28/05 11:40 PST
HAYWARD (BCN)
A lawyer for two former altar boys at an Antioch church said today that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland gave "opportunity and a green light'' to a priest who molested boys.
In his opening statement in the first of what could be many priest sex-abuse cases against the Oakland diocese, attorney Richard Simons said the diocese sent the Rev. Robert Ponciroli to St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch in 1979 even though officials knew his conduct at other churches "was not unblemished.''
Simons said that Ponciroli abused Bob and Tom Thatcher in 1980 and said the brothers have suffered emotional problems, such as anxiety and issues of sexual identity and confusion, ever since.
Simons also said Ponciroli's actions weren't an isolated incident within the diocese but instead were part of the diocesan policy of "disregarding the safety of children.''
WISCONSIN
The Journal Times
By Mike Moore
Priest abuse For a change, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests took time several weeks back to honor - not bash - one of the important members of the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
SNAP asked members of my parish, St. Paul the Apostle in Racine, to honor the Rev. Paul Esser for taking a stand against the transfer of abusive priest Siegfried Widera in the 1970s. It was a welcome and necessary shift toward healing, I suggested.
My column made the rounds through the abuse victim community to Gabrielle Azzaro, who said she was abused by a religious sister.
"I certainly wish I had never been molested," she wrote back. "I absolutely wish the same for the hundreds of others to whom this happened that I know of. However, we cannot undo the past. We can do something about the future. Although we need to hope, we cannot participate in a false hope that keeps us from working for healing and prevention. We cannot let some good priests, sisters, bishops blind us to the fact that there are still so many out there who need to be stopped before they destroy any more lives."
Well said.
CENTER CITY (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Nancy Phillips
Inquirer Staff Writer
The Catholic Church has suspended a former Center City pastor and placed him under investigation after he admitted to The Inquirer that he had repeatedly fondled a teenage girl decades ago.
The church acted after being told by The Inquirer of allegations against Msgr. Philip J. Dowling on March 18. That day, church officials barred him from public ministry and from wearing his collar in public.
Dowling, 75, who retired in July as pastor of St. Patrick parish, told the newspaper that he had repeatedly engaged in "inappropriate" touching of the girl, but denied abusing her sister, as both women now allege. He admitted the touching was sexual. "It crossed the bound," he said, "and I'm very sorry for the inappropriate acts and touches."
The case raises questions about District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's long-running grand jury probe of sex abuse by clergy. The two sisters gave detailed accounts to Abraham's office nearly three years ago.
But church officials say prosecutors never told them of this, even though at the time Dowling was pastor of St. Patrick, a large congregation just off Rittenhouse Square.
Nor, it seems, did the district attorney ever question Dowling.
HAYWARD (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Randy Myers
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
HAYWARD - A jury of 10 women and two men, including five people who identify themselves as Catholic, is expected to hear opening arguments today in a civil trial over decades-old sexual abuse allegations involving the Diocese of Oakland.
Two former Antioch altar boys, brothers Robert and Tom Thatcher, are seeking compensatory damages from the church. The brothers claim they were abused by Robert Ponciroli at St. Ignatius in Antioch between 1979 and 1981. Ponciroli was later defrocked.
Robert Thatcher, who now lives in Arizona, is also seeking punitive damages.
Because the diocese has conceded it acted negligently in the case, the jury now must decide whether the church should pay both kinds of damages and how much it should pay.
Church lawyers have argued that Robert Thatcher's pursuit of punitive damages, which would likely drive up the award amount, does not meet necessary legal criteria.
The trial could tarnish the church's reputation because lead plaintiffs attorney Rick Simons is likely to focus on a 1975 memo that Bishop Floyd Begin, who is dead now, wrote to himself.
The memo indicates that the diocese knew of complaints from altar boys and parents about Ponciroli and that the altar boys had circulated a petition protesting how he treated them.
VATICAN
Washington Post
By Sidney Callahan
Sunday, March 27, 2005; Page B02
In the face of death, Pope John Paul II's iron will is giving him the strength to suffer courageously. But even this most determined of pontiffs won't be able to stave off the inevitable: the church's need to choose a successor, an event that millions of Catholics anticipate with both anxiety and hope.
There's been vigorous debate about the papacy for more than 1,000 years, and as this pontificate nears its end, there are no signs of a cease-fire. At this point, Roman Catholics can agree that the bishop of Rome should hold the office of pope and exercise churchwide leadership. But beyond this minimum, they disagree over what needs to be changed and what should stay the same.
The prospect of electing a new pope brings up crucial questions: What makes a good pontiff? What are popes for? Will the papacy even continue to be a going concern over the next millennium? ...
The priest sex abuse scandal here in the United States revealed the institutional weaknesses in the American church and the urgent need for change. Good institutions operate on the ethical principles of accountability, separation of powers, due process and public disclosure. But the current church is too centralized; bishops, appointed by the pope, must answer to Rome on all matters. This has led to weakness, timidity and too often an effort, in the sex abuse scandal, to sweep the truth under the rug. What a difference it would make if the church reinstated the ancient practice of electing bishops, allowing the priests and people of a diocese to choose their own leaders.
In the wake of the sex abuse scandal, loyal lay Catholics have offered to help the bishops improve their management practices, but the church today resists advice from the laity. The consent of the governed is an ancient Catholic precept, but one that unfortunately became obscured when monarchies ruled the world. While the church advocates that the faithful should participate equally in taking responsibility for all its actions, this teaching has never been instituted in practice. A new pope should move the church forward to complete the reforms in governance and lay participation that were envisioned in the teachings of Vatican II.
The New York Times
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: March 27, 2005
Some may mock the Vatican for waiting until everyone on earth has read "The Da Vinci Code" to denounce "The Da Vinci Code."
I am not one of them. It's Easter, and I don't want to blot my catechism.
It's a little late, now that the two-year-old thriller by Dan Brown is a publishing miracle - with 25 million copies sold in 44 languages, a cascade of other books inspired by the novel and a movie with Tom Hanks set to start filming this spring - for Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone to intone on a Vatican radio broadcast: "Don't read and don't buy 'The Da Vinci Code.' "
But when you think of the history of the Catholic Church, the Vatican is acting with lightning speed. It took the church more than 350 years to reverse its condemnation of Galileo. The Vatican only began an inquisition of the 16th-century Inquisition in 1998. It wasn't until the reign of Pope John Paul II that the Vatican apologized for the crimes of the Crusaders and offered contrition for the silence of Catholics in the Holocaust. The church has still not apologized for shameful dissembling by its hierarchy on the sex abuse scandal. And America's Catholic bishops only last week announced they were finally going to get serious about opposing the death penalty.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Friday, March 25, 2005
ALBANY -- A man who claims he was sexually abused as a teenager by an Albany priest both here and in Massachusetts is suing the Albany and Boston dioceses for $3 million.
Named in the lawsuit is the late Rev. Donald Starks of St. Francis de Sales Church in West Albany, Bishop Howard Hubbard, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and defendant "Doe."
Leonard Motto made his case public Thursday, during a news conference in Schenectady.
A lawsuit with similar details about alleged abuse by Starks and another priest in the same time frame was filed in October 2004 by Charlton resident Michael Mooney.
Motto, 46, said he was 14 and attending Mass every week when he first met Starks in 1974.
A member of the church's folk music group, Motto said he often saw Starks for help with school work. He said the priest would comment on his looks and say with "time and patience" he could be a very smart student. But when Motto offered a wrong answer, court papers said, Starks would tell him "that's on your charge account."
STOCKTON (CA)
Union-Tribune
UNION-TRIBUNE
March 27, 2005
STOCKTON – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton has agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle claims by two victims molested by a Lodi priest who was later deported to Ireland.
The two unidentified victims are now in their 40s. They were elementary school students ages 11 and 12 at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi when they were molested by the Rev. Oliver O'Grady. O'Grady was convicted in 1993 of molesting the boys and served seven years before he was deported.
The victims' attorneys, Gregory Davenport and Jeffrey Silvia, said Friday each victim will get $1.8 million.
MODESTO (CA)
Modesto Bee
By ROGER W. HOSKINS
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: March 27, 2005, 04:12:23 AM PST
Members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church hailed a jury's verdict that cleared a priest of sexual battery.
However, the jury awarded the family $20,000 for emotional distress over the way the Rev. Francis Arakal and the Rev. Joseph Illo responded to a child's complaint about the incident.
And a spokeswoman for the girls who sued worried that the case will keep people from coming forward to confront abusers.
Shannon Munoz, a 32-year-old mother of three, was waiting for St. Joseph's Easter Vigil Saturday. She found fault with the jury's mixed reasoning.
"I don't think the family should have been awarded anything. I don't think the parish is at fault," she said.
She expressed complete confidence in both priests. "If I didn't have confidence in them, I wouldn't be here now and every Wednesday and Sunday."
CALIFORNIA
Modesto Bee
By KIM CURTIS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last Updated: March 27, 2005, 04:12:29 AM PST
SAN FRANCISCO — Roman Catholic leaders say they want to do the right thing for clergy abuse victims, but church financial statements suggest some dioceses may not be able to afford many more payments like the $437,000 awarded Thursday in the first of more than 750civil suits to go to trial in California.
Both the San Francisco and Oakland dioceses have been spending more cash than they've been collecting in recent years, which leaves them ill-prepared for a wave of potentially large judgments, according to audited financial statements for 2002 and 2003 reviewed by The Associated Press.
With about $56 million in cash and liquid assets, San Francisco could likely weather a moderate financial hit. The San Francisco diocese listed $99.7 million in total assets through June 2003, which includes such hard-to-sell assets as churches and other real estate.
The Oakland diocese is less financially secure, judging from its financial statements — it has about $39 million in easily accessible cash and assets and about $54 million in all.
Just how much each diocese can expect their insurers to pay isn't publicly known. Neither diocese would discuss its insurance coverage. But they may be particularly hard pressed if juries award punitive damages, which by law must be paid by the churches and not their insurers.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Boston.com
By Associated Press | March 27, 2005
SPRINGFIELD -- The bishop of the Springfield Diocese has called for a steep 18 percent budget cut to combat flat income, rising costs, and three years of deficit spending.
In a meeting last week, Bishop Timothy McDonnell told diocesan cabinet secretaries and department heads that the across-the-board cut would be instituted for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1, The Republican of Springfield reported.
Diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont said some programs could be eliminated, but he did not give specifics. He said that McDonnell hoped to minimize the effect on parishes, though Dupont added it is still too early to know precisely what the fallout will be.
Dupont said McDonnell also wants to avoid layoffs, even though personnel costs are a large portion of the overall budget. ...
The diocese has had deficits of $305,000, $1.3 million, and $664,437 in the last three fiscal years, respectively, with annual spending around $20 million. This past fiscal year, the diocese also absorbed the cost of a $7.7 million settlement with 46 victims of sexual abuse by clergy. The money was taken from diocesan savings. The diocese is hoping to recoup some of the settlement costs from its insurance carriers, but said it will be dealing from the loss of interest income for years. Roughly 30 claims of clergy abuse remain to be settled.
The diocese's income has stayed flat as the number of Catholics in the diocese has dropped 31 percent during the past 20 years, from 351,181 in 1984 to 240,730 in 2004, according to church statistics.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican
Sunday, March 27, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - In his first year as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell has been seen by many local Catholics as a healer who has restored people's confidence in the local church and possesses the skills to continue moving the diocese forward - even through financially difficult times.
Others see him as unwilling to listen to others, tied to old church ways and offering little more than a jovial demeanor when desperate measures are needed.
McDonnell, who served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of New York before coming to Springfield, was unavailable for an interview for this story because of Holy Week commitments, according to diocesan spokesman Mark E. Dupont.
Regardless of how people measure McDonnell's first year on the job, almost everyone agrees he stepped into a difficult situation.
When he was installed as the diocese's eighth bishop on April 1 last year, both clergy and lay people were feeling hurt, confused and disillusioned in the wake of the resignation of Bishop Thomas L. Dupre in February 2004 amid allegations of sexual abuse.
Seven months later, Dupre was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of rape of minors. The charges were immediately dropped because Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett said he couldn't overcome the statute of limitations.
UNITED STATES
MSNBC
By Sarah Childress
NewsweekApril 4 issue - Joe Maher never knows what to expect when he picks up the phone. Sometimes there's a trembling pause before a priest, choking back tears, tells him a disturbingly familiar tale: an accusation of sexual abuse, exile from his community. Other times, there's a caller screaming obscenities, furious that Maher would even speak to these "sinners." A mild-mannered, devout Roman Catholic, Maher is the founder of Opus Bono Sacerdotii—Latin for "Work for the Good of the Priesthood"—the only lay advocacy group for priests accused of sexual misconduct. Some of the priests seeking help are likely innocent, others are not. But Maher believes in supporting them all. "Priests are out there destitute, abandoned and desperate," he says. "And they need help."
After the sexual-abuse scandal exploded in 2002, the Catholic Church adopted a zero-tolerance policy, instructing bishops to quietly suspend accused priests from their duties until the church had fully investigated. (The statute of limitations has already passed for state action in most of the cases Maher hears about.) During the investigations, accused priests are supposed to continue receiving stipends, room and board. But that isn't always the case: some bishops, anxious to assuage their congregations, have gone public with the accusations, cutting the priests' stipends and forcing them off church property. That's where Opus Bono steps in. Tucked away in a factory building on the outskirts of Detroit, Maher and a half dozen priests field calls and e-mails from the accused. Part therapist, part social worker, Maher calms down the men and determines what they need: legal advice, money to cover the rent and lawyer's fees, or just a sympathetic ear.
A 44-year-old former financial consultant, Maher didn't set out to become a champion of this cause. But in 2002, when a priest in his parish who was visiting from Africa was accused of rape, Maher felt pity for the man. He paid the priest's $5,000 bail and hired him a lawyer. When the priest was acquitted, Maher's efforts caught the attention of the media, and the calls came pouring in from other men of the cloth. So Maher quit his job advising CFOs and set up Opus Bono with donations from Catholics who shared his sympathies. Since then, Maher says he's been contacted by more than 1,000 priests. And each week four or five more find their way to him. He makes no personal judgment as to their guilt or innocence; he's knelt to receive a blessing from a priest behind bars, and he addresses even defrocked priests with a reverent "Father." Those actions have made him a lightning rod for victims' advocates. "There's almost a blind loyalty to the institutional church," says Barbara Blaine, head of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who believes that public support for priests prevents victims from coming forward. More-militant opponents have even phoned in death threats and thrown human feces at Maher's car.
STOCKTON (CA)
Record
By Scott Smith
Record Staff Writer
Published Saturday, March 26, 2005
STOCKTON -- Two molestation victims of a Lodi priest who was jailed and later deported to Ireland have won a $3.6 million settlement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton, attorneys for the victims said Friday.
The resolution means the diocese will pay $1.8 million to each man as compensation for abuses committed when they were boys. The settlement is the first in San Joaquin County in the three years since an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that victims of sexual abuse could extend the statute of limitations for one year to file claims in California.
The Rev. Oliver O'Grady of St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi was convicted of molesting the boys, then 11 and 12, when they were elementary school students at the church. The unidentified victims are now in their 40s, said their Stockton attorneys, Gregory Davenport and Jeffrey Silvia.
"Our clients are extremely happy," Davenport said. "They feel for the other victims who are going to have to continue on in this battle."
Attorneys for the Stockton Diocese in the case could not be reached for comment Friday.
HAYWARD (CA)
The Argus
By Michelle Meyers, STAFF WRITER
HAYWARD — Debbie Lukas' pain stems from more than the sexual abuse she and a group of Oakland families say they suffered at the hands of her childhood priest.
She's also saddened and outraged by the way the church, as she puts it, continues to shirk its responsibility to protect children by "covering-up" the alleged crimes.
Lukas' frustration spurred her to organize a rally of a couple dozen abuse survivors at lunchtime Friday in front of the Hayward Hall of Justice, where a related trial gets under way next week.
In a push for more "transparency" about clergy abuse, the activists wielded signs that read "No excuse for coverup" and "Pedophiles don't quit — Is your child next?" They targeted mothers going to and from the courthouse.
Oakland mother Lawana Stuckey, who was at the Hall of Justice on court business, said while she trusts those educating her four children in Catholic schools, she was happy to get a list of alleged abusers in the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose dioceses.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
News 10
The discovery that two Catholic priests accused of child molestation in Sacramento are now serving in churches in Mexico has one of the victims outraged and calling for justice.
Salvador Perez is publicly coming forward for the first time. As an eight-year-old in St. Joseph's Church he was molested by Father Jose Luis Urbina, his parish priest (shown at center in the above photo from the Dallas Morning News). Urbina was convicted in Yuba County in 1989, but fled to Mexico. This month, a Dallas newspaper found him serving a parish in Novajoa, Mexico.
Perez wants more done to prevent priests involved in child molestation from fleeing prosecution. "It's infuriating to know he's still getting employment," he said. "He's still a priest."
The Sacramento Diocese said it sent letters to the bishop in Mexico about Urbina but received no response. Former Sacramento Bishop John Quinn even went to Mexico seeking Urbina, but was unable to find him.
Now there is word another priest from St. Joseph's, Father Gerardo Beltran, is also serving in Mexico after being accused of molestation. Beltran left town when an arrest warrant was issued for him on charges he allegedly molested two girls in the Sacramento parish.
NEW YORK
New Kerala
[U.S. News] NEW YORK, March 25 : A young woman has testified in New York her pastor, on trial for statutory rape, repeatedly had sex with her so she could become a great evangelist.
William Waynes, 47, is charged with third-degree rape, or statutory rape, and endangering the welfare of a child, Newsday reported Friday.If convicted, he faces four in prison.
Prosecutors say Waynes, who refers to himself as "bishop" of his storefront Pentecostal church, had consensual sexual intercourse with the victim four or five times before her 17th birthday.It is illegal for anyone older than 18 to have sex with anyone younger than 17.
"He would say that the priest should sleep with the virgin," the woman testified Thursday, "and that it's OK to do this because he loved me -- and in order for me to become an evangelist, and to become powerful ...he would have to enter inside me so that his spirit can come from him inside me so that I can become a great evangelist."
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Press-Telegram
By Kim Curtis
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Roman Catholic leaders say they want to do the right thing for clergy abuse victims, but church financial statements suggest some dioceses may not be able to afford many more payments like the $437, 000 awarded Thursday in the first of more than 750 civil suits to go to trial in California.
Both the San Francisco and Oakland dioceses have been spending more cash than they've been collecting in recent years, which leaves them ill-prepared for a wave of potentially large judgments, according to audited financial statements for 2002 and 2003 reviewed by The Associated Press.
With about $56 million in cash and liquid assets, San Francisco could likely weather a moderate financial hit. The San Francisco diocese listed $99.7 million in total assets through June 2003, which includes such hard-to-sell assets as churches and other real estate.
The Oakland diocese is less financially secure, judging from its financial statements it has about $39 million in easily accessible cash and assets and about $54 million in all.
TUCSON (AZ)
KVOA
A major challenge to the Catholic Diocese of Tucson's finances, occurred in court Friday.
A plaintiff attorney says all 77 parishes, as well as schools should be considered part of the diocese's bankrupt estate. That could make them targets for liquidation by creditors.
The diocese has long maintained that parishes are separate legal entities, and that parish assets aren't diocese assets.
Friday, a federal judge disregarded a portion of the motion to include all parish assets with diocese assets, on a technicality. He will decide whether he'll even consider the motion on April 19th.
In the mean time, many hope that complicated issue can be put on the back burner, so that the focus is on creating a compensation plan for victims -- one that all parties agree upon.
A plan many lawyers say will include contributions from parishes anyway.
WASHINGTON
KGW
03/26/2005
Associated Press
A Roman Catholic priest who stunned his parishioners at St. Brendan Church when he told them he was sexually abused as a boy is resigning from the priesthood and may write a book about his experience.
The Rev. Lawrence Minder, 44, said he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his abuse, which he says occurred when he was in seminary as a teenager. Counselors at an Arizona treatment facility told him recently he needed to separate from the priesthood to work through the issues underlying the disorder.
"It's been an internal conflict for the last three years to, in a sense, keep putting a best face on a situation that has no best face," he said Thursday.
On one hand, he felt a responsibility as pastor to "protect the fragile faith of the people" and to lead the parish through the larger sex-abuse scandal. At the same time, he was angry at "the scope (of the scandal) and lack of responsible leadership" of the bishops over the years, he said.
IOWA
The Dispatch
By Whitney Carnahan, wcarnahan@qconline.com
A possible purchase of the Davenport Diocese's St. Vincent Center at 2706 N. Gaines St. could offer St. Ambrose University room to grow and the Catholic diocese cash to help pay judgments from sex-abuse lawsuits.
The diocese asked SAU to consider buying the 50-acre parcel for campus expansion last fall, after the diocese agreed Oct. 28 to pay $9 million to 37 individuals who accused clergy of sexual abuse.
"This is a follow-up to an earlier inquiry," said Bishop William Franklin, who also is president of the SAU board of directors. SAU is affiliated with the diocese.
The St. Vincent Center serves as headquarters for the diocese. An additional 10 acres on the site is leased to the Sisters of Humility and would not be included in the purchase.
The preliminary appraisal of the parcel performed for the diocese valued the property at $4.55 million.
TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
People who filed sexual abuse claims against the Tucson Catholic Diocese may see some money paid out as early as August, based on dates set in federal bankruptcy court yesterday.
The dates move the diocese's Chapter 11 case toward a late summer conclusion.
Bishop Gerald Kicanas said yesterday he does not expect many more individuals to come forward alleging they were abused by priests as the April 15 date for filing claims against the diocese nears. He spoke after yesterday's hearing.
About 40 claims by individuals alleging sexual abuse have been filed. They will be reviewed by a special master, usually an attorney, to be appointed by Bankruptcy Court Judge James M. Marlar.
Susan Boswell, lead bankruptcy attorney for the diocese, said in a court filing yesterday that parishes in the diocese will provide for "a significant and critical contribution" to the settlement plan.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Saturday, March 26, 2005
The Boston archdiocese yesterday came to a compromise with a closed Quincy parish that had planned to celebrate Easter Mass with a married Catholic priest at a Protestant church.
Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley agreed to send a diocesan priest to celebrate tomorrow's Mass at 11:30 a.m. at Squantum Elementary School for members of Star of the Sea parish.
O'Malley also agreed to allow Easter Mass at St. Albert the Great in Weymouth and St. Anselm's in Sudbury, two of the seven parishes that have maintained round-the-clock vigils months after they were scheduled to close.
In a statement yesterday, a spokeswoman said the archbishop ``recognized there was a pastoral need among these two parish communities whose members strongly desire to celebrate the Easter liturgy together.''
But although the concessions were applauded by parishioners at all three parishes, they were decried by people at some of the 78 other parishes O'Malley has decided to close because of the financial crisis brought on by the clergy sexual-abuse scandal.
BOTHELL (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By JAKE ELLISON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The Bothell priest who told his congregation that a priest molested him when he was a child, then took a leave of absence from his duties, has resigned.
The Rev. Lawrence Minder told friends and parishioners of St. Brendan Catholic Church in a letter dated March 15 that he was leaving the priesthood after four months of inpatient treatment at a trauma center in Arizona.
"I need to move on," Minder wrote in his letter. He said he had underestimated the impact of his sexual abuse and the effect of staying with an "institution which has proven to be untrustworthy."
Comparing his relationship with the church to that of a person who stays with an abusive spouse, Minder said he was sad to leave but hoped "this step will free me to live a happier and healthier life in the future."
Seattle Archdiocese spokesman Greg Magnoni didn't return telephone calls by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer yesterday.
This is the second time Minder has resigned from the church.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Monterey Herald
KIM CURTIS
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Roman Catholic leaders say they want to do the right thing for clergy abuse victims, but church financial statements suggest some dioceses may not be able to afford many more payments like the $437,000 awarded Thursday in the first of more than 750 civil suits to go to trial in California.
Both the San Francisco and Oakland dioceses have been spending more cash than they've been collecting in recent years, which leaves them ill-prepared for a wave of potentially large judgments, according to audited financial statements for 2002 and 2003 reviewed by The Associated Press.
With about $56 million in cash and liquid assets, San Francisco could likely weather a moderate financial hit. The San Francisco diocese listed $99.7 million in total assets through June 2003, which includes such hard-to-sell assets as churches and other real estate.
The Oakland diocese is less financially secure, judging from its financial statements - it has about $39 million in easily accessible cash and assets and about $54 million in all.
Just how much each diocese can expect their insurers to pay isn't publicly known. Neither diocese would discuss its insurance coverage. But they may be particularly hard pressed if juries award punitive damages, which by law must be paid by the churches and not their insurers.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald
26.03.05
An Assemblies of God pastor facing allegations of sexual abuse has taken an extended break from his duties, citing emotional strain, and is under investigation by his church.
Allegations of sexual abuse by Pastor Wayne Hughes, the head of the Takapuna Assembly of God church, were published in the Herald on Thursday after a member of the church, who had complained to the national church hierarchy last October, spoke out.
Concerns were also raised by Nasir Ali, who was briefly married to Mr Hughes' daughter, Angela, about allegations that the pastor sexually abused a teenager.
Yesterday, the Assemblies of God General Superintendent, Ken Harrison, issued a statement denying the church tried to cover up the allegations.
He said he sought legal advice on the allegations in November 2004, and began an investigation.
STOCKTON (CA)
Lodi News-Sentinel
By Ross Farrow
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Last updated: Thursday, Mar 24, 2005 - 11:44:21 pm PST
The Stockton Catholic Diocese has agreed to pay out a combined $3.6 million to two people who claimed that former Lodi Priest Oliver O'Grady sexually abused them when they were children, according a prepared statement released by the diocese.
Each will receive $1.8 million, the Diocese said.
Details on the two cases, however, were not available.
Seth Schwartz, a Walnut Creek attorney representing the diocese, said Thursday that a protective order prevents him from revealing information on the case as basic as when the alleged offenses took place, the victims' gender and their ages at the time they were reportedly abused.
"If their lawyers choose to give information, so be it," Schwartz said.
Attorneys Jeff Silvia and Gregory Davenport, who represent the plaintiffs, were unavailable for comment.
BRIGHTON
Allston-Brighton Tab
By Laura Crimaldi/ Boston Herald
Friday, March 25, 2005
A priest accused of abusing children in Brighton was cleared of sexual abuse charges by a Plymouth jury last week.
Former Our Lady of the Presentation priest John P. Lyons was cleared of accusations he repeatedly raped a young boy during private religious tutoring sessions at Rochester's St. Rose of Lima Church during the 1980s.
The family of the accuser cried as Lyons, 77, closed his eyes and bowed his head when the jury delivered a not-guilty verdict on one count of child rape in Brockton Superior Court.
"I can't believe you would do this to my son," the accuser's mother cried out.
The Boston Archdiocese placed Lyons, a former Our Lady of the Presentation priest, on administrative leave in May 2002. Lyons was removed from his post after two Allston-Brighton men sued Lyons, alleging he repeatedly molested them when they were OLP altar boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
CALIFORNIA
CBS 5
Mar 25, 2005 1:29 pm US/Pacific
(CBS 5) A man who won a lawsuit against the San Francisco Catholic Archdiocese for not stopping his abuse by a priest says he wants to help other survivors.
Dennis Kavanaugh, now 37, was 13 and an altar boy at a San Jose church when the sexual abuse by Reverend Joseph Pritchard began. Pritchard, who died of cancer in 1988, molested Kavanaugh at least 30 times.
This was the first Catholic priest sex abuse civil case in the state to go to trial since the statute of limitations for filing claims was lifted in 2002. The outcome -- and the jury verdict awarding Kavanaugh $437,000 -- could influence how other cases are handled.
"I don't think any amount of money can compensate what I lost," said Kavanaugh. "But I respect the decision of the jury and I look forward to helping the other survivors in the case."
There are more than 150 cases like Kavanaugh's in the Bay Area alone, but his is the first in California to go to trial. The San Francisco and Oakland dioceses have settled some, but this decision could push other victims to go to trial one by one.
LEXINGTON (KY)
Herald-Leader
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Just before Christmas, police arrested a 58-year-old former televangelist most recently associated with a Lexington funeral home and charged him with third-degree rape of a 15-year-old girl.
The Rev. Larry Allen Day is the former pastor of churches in Monticello and Lexington and, until his arrest, helped Lexington families with funeral pre-planning as an independent contractor associated with Milward Funeral Directors.
Vice President Rob Milward said Day kept an office at the funeral home but wasn't considered an employee and hasn't been associated with the business since his December arrest.
"Larry is a family man," said Milward. "We are dumfounded by the charges against him."
The accusations against Day are laid out in records from Fayette Circuit Court, where Day is next scheduled to appear April 1:
On Dec. 16, 2004, the mother of a 15-year-old girl went to the girl's Fayette County school to report that the girl had been repeatedly subjected to sexual contact by Day, according to a search warrant affidavit.
NEW YORK
New York Daily News
BY SCOTT SHIFREL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A charismatic Queens preacher went on trial yesterday accused of seducing an underaged church member he allegedly sweet-talked into a bed full of stuffed animals.
"He would say that the priest should sleep with the virgin and that's okay to do this because he loved me," the alleged victim, now 21, told jurors in a hushed courtroom yesterday.
Bishop William Waynes, founder and pastor of the New Beginning Outreach Love Center, is charged with statutory rape, a crime that carries a prison term of up to four years.
Prosecutors say Waynes, 47, who holds a second job as a staffer at Fox Channel 5, began molesting the girl when she was 15 - and bedded her just after her Sweet 16 party in 2000.
"This is a case about seduction, the loss of innocence and the abuse of authority," Assistant District Attorney Frank DeGaetano said in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.
SALEM (MA)
Salem News
By Tom Dalton
Staff writer
The phone call came Monday morning. Bishop Richard Lennon was on the other end of the line, and he was calling to say that it was over: After 26 months, the Rev. Edward Keohan had been cleared.
"I felt like the world had been lifted off my shoulders," said Keohan, 73, the former administrator of St. Mary's Italian Church in Salem. "I just felt relieved and thankful to the good Lord for helping me get through this difficult time. And thankful to the archbishop. Even though it took some time, as they say, the truth does come out."
Until Monday, Keohan had been living under the dark cloud of the priest sex abuse scandal. He had spent more than 40 years in the priesthood, had run the Salem church for 16 years and had been a chaplain at Salem Hospital, but none of that seemed to matter.
He had been accused.
In January 2003, a Gloucester man filed a civil complaint alleging that Keohan had fondled him and slept naked with him between 1981 and 1983, when the priest was stationed at a church in Chelsea. In August of that year, Keohan was put on "voluntary leave" by the Archdiocese of Boston.
Since then, the alleged victim was paid a settlement by the archdiocese, according to his lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian.
At the same time, however, a church review board investigated the allegation in what it described as a "careful review" of the case. On Tuesday, the archdiocese said that it found no evidence to support the claim and announced that Keohan would be returned to active ministry. Asked about the decision, Garabedian said his client refused to testify before the church board.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By ALEX GINSBERG
March 25, 2005 -- A Queens minister sweet-talked a 16-year-old church member into an illicit tryst by telling her his teddy-bear-filled bed was the gateway to the holy life, the woman told a jury yesterday.
"He would say that the priest should sleep with the virgin," the woman said of accused pervert William Waynes, pastor of the New Beginning Outreach Love Center in Corona.
"To become powerful and to become . . . basically what kind of evangelist he wanted me to be, he would have to enter inside me so that his spirit can come from him inside me so that I can — I can become a great evangelist."
Waynes, 47, is charged with rape for allegedly sleeping with the woman, then his assistant secretary, in March 2003 — two weeks after her sweet 16.
HAYWARD (CA)
Oakland Tribune
FROM STAFF REPORTS
HAYWARD — Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in the civil trial of two brothers suing the Diocese of Oakland over their alleged molestation by a former priest.
Jury selection was completed Tuesday, with the panel instructed to return Monday.
Richard Simons, the Thatchers' attorney, said questions remain on how much of former priest Robert Ponciroli's personnel file can be admitted and how extensive the testimony can be from other alleged victims.
HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com
Alexander Winchester says he still has faith in God, after a state judge dismissed his lawsuit against the Catholic Church alleging he had been molested by a parish priest at age 11.
But believing those in the pulpit purportedly preaching the word of God is another matter, Winchester said.
"It's just gonna be a new day for me, and I will try take it one day at a time," he said.
In August 2002, Winchester sued the Catholic Church and the estate of Alphonsus Boumeister, a former pastor and parish priest at St. Stephen's Catholic Church in Nuuanu. He claimed he had been fondled or sexually assaulted on at least six occasions in 1961, when he was 11 years old.
Circuit Judge Victoria Marks ruled yesterday there was no evidence to support Winchester's claims.
"This is not a situation where the plaintiffs have come forward with evidence showing this priest was shuffled from one parish to another because the church or the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts knew he was a problem," she said. "Here, we have absolutely no information anyone knew this priest had a risk for inappropriately touching children."
FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Darren Barbee
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - A 33-year-old Texas man who said he was groped by a Nolan Catholic High School employee in the late 1980s is demanding that the man be forced out of a Roman Catholic school in Missouri where he now works.
"I was angry and shocked that this guy is still around kids," he said Thursday.
The Star-Telegram is not identifying the man because he says he was a victim of sexual abuse. The Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese has spent thousands of dollars on counseling for the man.
The former Nolan employee is a brother in the Marianist religious order and had a position of authority over children when he worked at Nolan. He will not be suspended from the Missouri school while an investigation is conducted, said Brother Stephen Glodek, head of the U.S. Marianist Province in St. Louis.
The former Nolan employee is not being identified because he has not been charged with a crime. A telephone call seeking comment from the man was returned Thursday by a spokeswoman for the Marianist order.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
In the first jury verdict against the Roman Catholic Church in California since the sex-abuse crisis erupted three years ago, a San Francisco jury on Thursday awarded $437,000 to a gardener who was molested by a priest in the 1970s.
The award, thousands more than what lawyers for the archdiocese had suggested — was consistent with the amounts paid to settle similar sex-abuse claims against the Orange Diocese last year, according to lawyers for plaintiffs.
The amount is expected to influence, and possibly reignite, stalled settlement talks in Los Angeles and throughout the state, giving lawyers on both sides some indication of how jurors are likely to resolve similar claims against the church.
The San Francisco case was selected by lawyers for all sides to set a low benchmark for the more than 700 claims against the Catholic Church in California.
BOTHELL (WA)
Seattle Times
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
The Rev. Lawrence Minder, who stunned his parishioners at Bothell's St. Brendan Church last year when he told them he was a victim of the Roman Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal, is resigning from the priesthood.
Saying he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his abuse, Minder stated yesterday that counselors at an Arizona treatment facility told him recently he needed to separate from the priesthood to work through the issues underlying the disorder.
"It's been an internal conflict for the last three years to, in a sense, keep putting a best face on a situation that has no best face," he said.
On one hand, he felt a responsibility as pastor to "protect the fragile faith of the people" and to lead the parish through the larger sex-abuse scandal. At the same time, he was angry at "the scope (of the scandal) and lack of responsible leadership" of the bishops over the years.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Monterey County Herald
By LISA LEFF
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - The Archdiocese of San Francisco was ordered by a jury Thursday to pay $437,000 to a California man who says he was repeatedly fondled by a San Jose priest during the 1970s in a ruling that could influence hundreds of potential settlements statewide.
The San Francisco County Superior Court jury deliberated on damages for less than five hours before putting a price on Dennis Kavanaugh's emotional suffering, troubled personal life and lost wages.
The same jurors decided last Friday that the archdiocese was liable for the 37-year-old Kavanaugh's problems because church officials knew or should have known the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard was abusing young boys.
Neither Kavanaugh nor his attorney would say whether they were pleased or disappointed with the size of the award.
''A positive statement was made for the survivors, including myself,'' Kavanaugh said outside of court.
Bishop John Wester said the church had no plans to appeal the verdict and is ''committed to a just compensation to all victims of clergy sexual abuse.''
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee
By Cynthia Hubert -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, March 25, 2005
A Sacramento man who for years suffered abuse by a Roman Catholic priest on Thursday demanded justice and extradition of the pastor who last week was discovered still ministering in Mexico.
"I can't hide anymore," said Salvador Perez, 33, a soft-spoken state worker who spoke publicly for the first time and described the impact of the molestations on his life. In 1989, the Rev. Jose Luis Urbina was convicted of sexually molesting him.
Urbina, who admitted guilt, fled to Mexico to escape justice and for the past decade has been serving at his hometown parish in Navojoa.
Flanked at a news conference by his lawyer, Joseph George, and a female friend, Perez said Urbina began "hugging and fondling" him when he was 8 years old and an altar boy. The abuse escalated, he said, and continued for 10 years.
"We're talking about childhood through adolescence," he said. "It's difficult to describe the impact of something like that. You try to survive every day. Some days are good, some not so good."
Perez now is among 33 people who have filed lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento accusing clergy of sexual abuse.
UNITED STATES
Orange County Weekly
by GUSTAVO ARELLANO
It’s been almost four months since Orange County Catholic Church officials first promised to release all personnel files on employees accused of child molestation—and still nothing. Plaintiffs who settled with the diocese for a record-breaking $100 million say those documents will prove church officials knew about and protected the pedophiles in their ranks. But ever since lawyers for Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown turned over about 30 boxes of papers to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy for review on Jan. 31, no one with the Church or the courts has said when—if ever—the public will see those supposed smoking guns.
According to a confidential Jan. 3 e-mail from diocesan officials to priests, the diocese “retains the right to object” to disclosure of documents “on any available legal grounds.” And McCoy can only release what Orange diocese officials gave up. Which raises the fascinating question: Did the Orange diocese turn over all documents as required by the settlement? Or did some documents pay a visit to Mr. Shredder?
Elsewhere in the U.S., lawyers have answered the question by issuing subpoenas to church employees (see below). But not here—where there’s good reason for skepticism about the church’s record keeping: when the Boston Archdiocese sex-abuse scandal erupted in 2002, one of the accused was Father Richard Coughlin. Coughlin served in Orange County from the late 1960s until his suspension in 1993 for allegedly fondling choirboys. Orange officials insisted they never knew of Coughlin’s past and maintained their blissful ignorance until Boston officials released a Dec. 3, 1985, memo in which a Beantown priest alerted then-Orange Bishop John Steinbock about Coughlin.
Here are a few other examples of diocesan record dumping:
* On Sept. 9, 2003, Father James Scahill admitted to a judge that Bishop Thomas Dupré of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, once told a group of priests, “Fortunately for us, before his retirement, [the previous bishop] destroyed many personal and personnel records.” Scahill described Dupré as “very happy. He seemed happy, relieved” when the bishop made those remarks. Dupré later became the first sitting bishop ever indicted on molestation charges.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
11:26 PM PST on Thursday, March 24, 2005
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
A national self-help group for clergy-abuse victims Thursday urged the Diocese of San Bernardino to drop its efforts to reclaim the personnel file of a defrocked Inland priest, seized by Riverside County prosecutors shortly before the cleric was charged with molesting two boys.
In a strongly worded letter, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests also urged Bishop Gerald Barnes to contact bishops in Mexico to warn their parishes that the fugitive priest, Jesus Armando Dominguez, may be in their midst. Dominguez, 56, is believed to have fled to Mexico, authorities have said.
In January, Riverside County prosecutors and sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at the diocese's headquarters in San Bernardino and seized Dominguez's file. The file remains sealed before a Riverside County judge who will decide later this year whether prosecutors should be allowed to examine the records.
The diocese later filed court papers seeking the file's return and arguing that the search violated federal and state constitutional standards. The diocese has said it does not object to the release of some of the documents, but that other paperwork in the file related to Dominguez's removal from the priesthood or medical records should remain confidential.
NEW YORK
New York Newsday
BY HERBERT LOWE
STAFF WRITER
March 24, 2005, 8:04 PM EST
A young woman testified in Queens Thursday that she and her former minister had a sexual relationship for nearly four years after he initially said that's what God wanted.
"He would say that the priest should sleep with the virgin," the woman said about Bishop William Waynes, "and that it's OK to do this because he loved me -- and in order for me to become an evangelist, and to become powerful ... he would have to enter inside me so that his spirit can come from him inside me so that I can become a great evangelist."
The woman, now 21 and a local college student, was the first witness against Waynes, who is on trial in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.
Waynes, 47, is pastor of a storefront Pentecostal church, New Beginning Outreach Love Center, in East Elmhurst. He is charged with third-degree rape, or statutory rape, and endangering the welfare of a child.
If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.
Waynes' attorney, Ronna Gordon-Galchus, did not offer an opening statement but said afterward "the charges are a complete fabrication."
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Luis Obispo Tribune
LISA LEFF
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - The Archdiocese of San Francisco was ordered by a jury Thursday to pay $437,000 to a California man who says he was repeatedly fondled by a San Jose priest during the 1970s in a ruling that could influence hundreds of potential settlements statewide.
The San Francisco County Superior Court jury deliberated on damages for less than five hours before putting a price on Dennis Kavanaugh's emotional suffering, troubled personal life and lost wages.
The same jurors decided last Friday that the archdiocese was liable for the 37-year-old Kavanaugh's problems because church officials knew or should have known the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard was abusing young boys.
Neither Kavanaugh nor his attorney would say whether they were pleased or disappointed with the size of the award.
"A positive statement was made for the survivors, including myself," Kavanaugh said outside of court. "I look forward to being helpful any way I can to the other survivors who are still to come."
Bishop John Wester said the church had no plans to appeal the verdict and is "committed to a just compensation to all victims of clergy sexual abuse."
CALIFORNIA
ABC 7
Mar. 23 (ABC7) — Father Steve Whelan is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing an East Bay boy more than 30 years ago. The lawsuit against him is one of almost 200 now underway against the catholic church in Northern California. I-Team reporter Dan Noyes spoke with the priest and his accuser today. He reports from Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco, where Father Whelan now works.
The accuser, his family and about a dozen activists protested at Saints Peter and Paul today. They say they are concerned that children could be in danger at this church and school. This is the latest in a long series of reports the I-Team has done on the sexual abuse crisis in the catholic church.
Joe Piscitelli tells us he was 14 years old when the abuse first started at the hands of Father Steve Whelan at Richmond's Salesian High School.
Joe Piscitelli, accuser: "He abused me at the Boys Club, on the stairway, in his office upstairs, and he stalked me."
Piscitelli says the priest sexually assaulted him many times over the course of two-and-half years and that he told his family and a therapist provided by the church.
The priest was never disciplined. Father Whelan tells us Piscitelli is lying.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Youngsters sexually abused by priests can "sometimes slide right over it with no perceived effects,'' a psychologist hired by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco testified Wednesday.
Jonathan French, a San Francisco psychologist and sex abuse expert, told a Superior Court jury that he found molestation victim Dennis Kavanaugh had suffered no significant psychological problems after being molested as a teenager in the early 1970s by a San Jose priest.
"He seems like an upbeat, decent guy,'' French testified. "He's a survivor. He managed to get married, raise kids. I don't see much evidence that this (molestation) significantly interfered with his daily life. He had friends. He did stuff.''
French said some kinds of molestation are worse than others and that the kind that Kavanaugh suffered was relatively mild, as it was not accompanied by physical violence or threats.
"Some people roll with it; others are severely damaged,'' French said.
IRELAND
One in Four
By Harry McGee - Irish Examiner
THE Government will today publish legislation designed to prevent protracted hearings in the Commission Inquiring into Child Abuse.
Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday announced the bill which she intends to have enacted before the summer.
The bill will remove the obligation on the commission’s Investigation Committee to hold a full hearing into each and every allegation of abuse referred to it. Instead, the 1,300 complainants will have the opportunity to be interviewed by the committee.
PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror
By Phil Ray
The Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese and the attorney for an alleged priest abuse victim predicted victory as they prepared to return to Superior Court to argue for a third time about the amount of money the former Altoona resident should receive.
The diocese says it shouldn't have to pay Michael Hutchison, now of Akron, Ohio, the $1 million in punitive damages the jury awarded him almost 11 years ago.
Hutchison's Altoona attorney, Richard M. Serbin, said there is evidence to warrant the punitive damages.
IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
by Eamonn McCann
24 March 2005
It's out of charity that the Roman Catholic Church pays compensation to victims of abuse. That's the implication of the fact that the Stewardship Trust has been granted charitable status in the south.
The trust is the body set up in 1996 to fund compensation claims arising from abuse cases.
Most Catholics only became aware of the trust last month when Bishop Seamus Hegarty confirmed to the BBC's Spotlight programme that the Derry diocese's contribution was being raised through a levy imposed on all parishes.
The levy was abandoned after parishioners reacted angrily to exposure of the plan. The scheme, which it had been planned to implement in all 26 Irish dioceses, is now in disarray, as the bishops cast around for another way to find an estimated 25m euros to meet liabilities over the next five years.
The fund's charitable status will mean that contributions the bishops may solicit from wealthy individuals will be tax free. They are likely also be exempted from capital acquisitions and gift tax .
Pat Rabbitte raised the commonsense point when he asked the Republic's Finance Minister, Brian Cowan, whether "making contributions towards the payments of awards of damages and the costs associated with such awards could ever be regarded as charitable?"
OHIO
Toledo Blade
THE bill may be unconstitutional but the cause is certainly righteous.
That's a realistic way to look at legislation passed by the Ohio Senate to give victims of childhood sexual abuse an extended opportunity to confront their abusers in court, even if the molestation occurred as far back as 1970.
While the measure would apply to all victims of childhood sexual abuse, it is aimed squarely at giving redress in civil lawsuits to those who were abused by clergy, chiefly from the Roman Catholic Church.
In Columbus to observe passage of the bill was Tony Comes, the Toledo firefighter whose bravely told story of abuse by a local priest in the 1980s was chronicled in a documentary movie nominated for an Academy Award this year.
While Mr. Comes' lawsuit against the Toledo Catholic Diocese has been settled, he believes the legislation is an overdue recognition that no one, including priests, is above the law.
BROCKTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 7:31 am EST March 24, 2005
BROCKTON, Mass. -- A 76-year-old priest was acquitted Wednesday of allegations he repatedly raped a young parishioner in the late 1980s in a church office.
The Rev. John P. Lyons closed his eyes and bowed his head as the verdict was read in Brockton Superior Court, where jurors began deliberating Tuesday after one day of testimony. He could have faced up to life in prison.
About two dozen parishioners from his church, St. Rose of Lima Church in Rochester, Mass., cheered the verdict while the accuser's family wailed, The Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., reported.
The accuser's mother cried out, "I can't believe you would do this to my son." She and other relatives were ordered out of the courtroom.
"I'm delighted," Lyons said after the verdict, declining to comment further.
The accuser, a former parishioner at St. Rose of Lima, testified that Lyons molested him from 1987 until 1989. Now 26, he was 8 years to 10 years old when the alleged abuse occurred.
The accuser testified that the abuse started slowly and escalated to sex acts as he met with Lyons in a church office for private religious classes on Saturdays.
ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer
Standing in the sanctuary of St. Raphael Catholic Church just below a large sculpted crucifix, Dennis Gaboury paused before launching into his personal tale of clerical sexual abuse and his long, painful path to healing.
He first thanked the church's pastor, the Rev. Pat Berquist and Bishop Donald Kettler for allowing him to speak without censorship.
"I don't know if this has ever happened where an actual victim comes to a church in front of a cross and talks to parishioners," said Gaboury who has spoken publicly many times before, including national television programs such as CNN and "Oprah."
Gaboury, 53, grew up in Massachusetts during the 1950s and '60s, in "a very Catholic home," where priests and nuns were considered more holy than human. He detailed the culture of secrecy at the time when no one spoke of sex abuse.
In 1961, he was 10 years old and an altar boy, when he was raped by his parish priest, James Porter.
STOCKTON (CA)
Modesto Bee
By SUSAN HERENDEEN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: March 24, 2005, 04:35:29 AM PST
STOCKTON — An Oakdale man testified Wednesday that a woman who is suing two St. Joseph's Catholic Church priests and the Stockton Diocese once complained to him that she was not able to seduce the Rev. Joseph Illo during a trip to Rome.
Edward Tobias, testifying during a civil lawsuit trial in San Joaquin County Superior Court, said the woman seemed to be obsessed with the priest from the Modesto parish and often followed him around the parish.
He said he remembers her complaint vividly.
"She said, 'I did everything I could, but the man is not capable of having sex,'" said Tobias, a St. Joseph's parishioner.
The lawsuit brought by the woman claims that Illo responded improperly in September 2002 when her middle daughter reported concerns about the Rev. Francis Arakal, an associate pastor at St. Joseph's.
The mother claims that Arakal twice touched the breast of her eldest daughter in July 2002 while he was pinning the girl to the ground during a tickle fight at the family's home. She also claims that Arakal asked her youngest daughter to reach into his pants pocket to pull out a priest's collar.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
Lawyers representing the two Texas men who allege they were sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar said yesterday that Dallas lawyer Sylvia Demarest has joined the legal team.
Ms. Demarest was involved in the litigation in the 1990s against the Dallas Diocese and the Rev. Rudolph E. Kos, who allegedly sexually abused 11 boys in Dallas from 1981 to 1989. The victims received a multimillion dollar settlement.
Tahira Khan Merritt, also a lawyer involved in the suit against Rev. Kos, and Daniel J. Shea of Houston, who filed the lawsuit against Rev. Thomas H. Teczar on behalf of the two unnamed plaintiffs, said that Ms. Demarest has offered to assist with the civil suit. Judge Len Wade of the Tarrant County District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, ruled on Tuesday that the suit could go forward, denying motions from the dioceses of Worcester and Fort Worth to dismiss the suit.
A mediation session is scheduled for 9 this morning with a court-appointed mediator in Los Colinas, Texas. Unless settlement is reached, the suit is scheduled to go to trial in July.
Ms. Demarest recently transferred 100 boxes of material on 2,600 priests who allegedly were involved in sexual misconduct to the BishopAccountibility.org group, which is based in the Boston area. The records, which BishopAccountability said represent about $1 million worth of research and are based on public sources, will be available online. BishopAccountability has compiled a database of all priests who have had allegations of abuse made against them.
The two Texas men allege in their suit that Rev. Teczar sexually abused them in Ranger, Texas, where he was stationed by the Fort Worth Diocese after he left the Worcester Diocese.
Bishop Timothy J. Harrington of Worcester barred him from acting as a priest in the mid-1980s but Bishop Joseph P. Delaney of Fort Worth accepted him into the diocese there.
Named in the suit are Rev. Teczar, who is acting as his own lawyer, the Worcester and Fort Worth dioceses, Bishop Delaney and retired Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger of Worcester. Rev. Teczar, who lives in Dudley, is still a priest of the Worcester Diocese and receives monetary support from the diocese, according to a deposition given by former Worcester Bishop Daniel P. Reilly.
CALIFORNIA
LA Weekly
by STEVEN MIKULAN
For a moment I thought I had wandered into the wrong theater last week. I’d come to the Pasadena Playhouse to see Doubt, John Patrick Shanley’s play about a priest accused of child molesting, but what I was watching resembled one of those classy horror movies the British used to make, the kind where agnostic bureaucrats argue with men of faith about sinister mysteries. (“And I put it to you, vicar, the children aren’t human.”) Everything from set designer Gary L. Wissman’s withered rectory garden to Jeremy Pivnick’s moody lighting and Steven Cahill’s whispery sound effects brings the viewer to the edge of dread. And on the other side of that edge stands Linda Hunt as the mirthless principal of a Bronx parochial school.
“Boys are made of tar, tar paper and dirt,” Sister Aloysius informs a newcomer to the school — a line that, coming from Hunt’s sepulchral mouth, sounds less like a feminist critique than a practical recipe for voodoo-doll making. The diminutive sister’s grim, Hibernian Catholicism unmistakably marks her as a card-carrying exorcist rather than another caricature from the large sorority of comically deranged stage nuns.
The time is 1964 — the liberal Pope John and the Catholic President John Kennedy are dead, and the roller coaster of American history is about to rocket up to (or plunge into) “the Sixties” proper. That dawning era of experiment and change is personified by the studly yet sensitive figure of Father Flynn (Jonathan Cake), St. Nicholas’ eloquent, charismatic pastor.
ROCHESTER (MA)
Standard-Times
By NANCY COOK, Standard-Times staff writer
ROCHESTER -- A former Rochester priest, placed on administrative leave three years ago after being accused of sexual abuse, was acquitted yesterday of raping a young parishioner in the 1980s.
A jury in Brockton Superior Court found 77-year-old John P. Lyons innocent after one day of testimony and another day of deliberation.
About 30 parishioners from the Rev. Lyons' former parish, St. Rose of Lima Church, attended the trial. They cheered and clapped so heartily after the verdict that the judge asked them to quiet down, parishioner MaryAnn Cutler said.
Meanwhile, the accuser and his mother broke down crying. "I was pretty devastated," the mother said.
As soon as the trial concluded, news spread through Rochester, from Bev Loves Books to the hair salon to the pizza parlor, with mixed reaction on all sides.
For the band of St. Rose of Lima parishioners who trekked to Brockton and still remain in close contact with the Rev. Lyons, the verdict gave them a huge sense of relief. "This was long overdue ... Rev. Lyons has been through so much," Ms. Cutler said.
PLYMOUTH (MA)
Boston Herald
By Laura Crimaldi
Thursday, March 24, 2005 - Updated: 03:37 AM EST
A Plymouth jury yesterday cleared a 77-year-old parish priest of allegations he repeatedly raped a young boy during private religious tutoring sessions at the church office during the 1980s.
The family of the accuser wailed as the Rev. John P. Lyons closed his eyes and bowed his head when the jury delivered a not-guilty verdict on one count of child rape in Brockton Superior Court.
``I can't believe you would do this to my son,'' the accuser's mother cried out.
Lyons was put on leave from St. Rose of Lima Church in Rochester in July 2002 when allegations of sexual misconduct first surfaced, said the Rev. James Lanergan, the current church administrator.
Lyons declined comment when reached at his Plymouth home.
INDIANA
Times-Picayune
3/23/2005, 6:12 p.m. CT
By KEN KUSMER
The Associated Press
(AP) — The United Methodist Church will try a pastor on sexual harassment and immorality charges in May in the denomination's first church trial in memory in Indiana.
Indiana's largest Protestant church on March 2 suspended the Rev. Larry Martin for 90 days with pay after other steps failed to resolve the accusations. Indiana Area Bishop Michael J. Coyner announced the May 19-21 dates for the trial on Wednesday.
The church did not reveal details of the charges against Martin, but they will come out during the trial, said church spokesman Dan Gangler.
"This is a serious charge," Gangler said.
United Methodism's statutes define sexual harassment as "a continuum of behaviors that intimidate, demean, humiliate or coerce."
The trial will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church in New Albany, just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., with retired Bishop Joe E. Pennel Jr. of Franklin, Tenn., as judge.
It was not clear Wednesday when the United Methodist Church last held a church trial in Indiana. The Rev. Riley B. Case of Kokomo, a former district superintendent for the church in northern Indiana, said he has preached since the 1950s and cannot recall a church trial in Indiana during that period.
WISCONSIN
In-Forum
HUDSON, Wis.
Three years after two funeral home workers were fatally shot and three months after a priest was questioned in the slayings, investigators have received some "very beneficial" information in the case, the police chief said Wednesday.
But Police Chief Richard Trende would not reveal what detectives learned, other than to say they have not found the gun used to shoot funeral home director Dan O'Connell and his 22-year-old old intern, James Ellison.
"We have made some definite progress in this. We are nearing some conclusion, we hope. I am not going to comment further," Trende said. "A lot of information is being wrapped up. There are a few interviews yet to be done."
Trende said he hopes that within two weeks, police can present their investigation to the city attorney and the St. Croix County district attorney to determine what happens next.
"There has been some recent information that has come forward that's been very beneficial," he said.
O'Connell, 39, and Ellison were fatally shot in the office of the O'Connell Family Funeral Home in western Wisconsin in February 2002. Police have made no arrests.
The investigation took a bizarre twist after the Rev. Ryan Erickson, an associate pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Hudson at the time of the murders, was questioned late last year.
Erickson, 31, was found hanged Dec. 19 from a fire escape at St. Mary's Church in Hurley in far northern Wisconsin. Police said he had denied any involvement in the murders.
Trende said Erickson was questioned about the murders after a separate investigation was launched last fall into an allegation the priest was involved in a possible crime involving a child or children.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald
24.03.05
by Chris Barton
The Assemblies of God church hierarchy is under fire for covering up allegations of sexual abuse involving one of its senior pastors.
The allegations relate to Pastor Wayne Hughes, head of the Takapuna church.
A longtime member of the Takapuna Assembly of God told the Herald he brought information about the abuse to the attention of church general superintendent Ken Harrison in October. Nothing was done.
"I've fulfilled my obligation to God by not sweeping it under the carpet. God doesn't want this stuff going on in His church. He wants it exposed. I'm sure He's not pleased with those who found out about it and didn't do anything about it," said the church member.
Asked about a cover-up, Mr Harrison said: "No comment."
COVINGTON (KY)
Kentucky Post
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
The judge overseeing the class-action lawsuit alleging the Diocese of Covington covered up a half-century of priestly sexual abuse has ordered both sides back to the bargaining table.
Special Judge John Potter on Tuesday told the diocese to bring representatives of both its insurance carriers to the next settlement negotiations. Both sides should have a "representative authorized to settle," he said.
Potter's comments at the end of a 90-minute hearing were the first indication that all may not be well with negotiations. The suit is being mediated by Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund.
Indeed, Potter noted, Feinberg hasn't been to any settlement conferences since the beginning of the year.
BROCKTON (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
BROCKTON, Mass.— A 76-year-old priest was acquitted Wednesday of allegations he repatedly raped a young parishioner in the late 1980s in a church office.
The Rev. John P. Lyons closed his eyes and bowed his head as the verdict was read in Brockton Superior Court, where jurors began deliberating Tuesday after one day of testimony.
About two dozen parishioners from his church, St. Rose of Lima Church in Rochester, cheered the verdict while the accuser's family wailed, The Patriot Ledger of Quincy reported.
The accuser's mother cried out, "I can't believe you would do this to my son." She and other relatives were ordered out of the courtroom.
"I'm delighted," Lyons said after the verdict, declining to comment further.
The accuser, a former parishioner at St. Rose of Lima, testified that Lyons molested him from 1987 until 1989. Now 26, he was 8 years to 10 years old when the alleged abuse occurred.
IRELAND
RTE News
23 March 2005 17:32
New legislation has been published to streamline the operation of the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse.
The commission, formerly chaired by Ms Justice Laffoy, and now chaired by Mr Justice Seán Ryan, is investigating allegations of abuse in residential institutions.
The Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, said the amendments proposed in the bill would allow the commission to carry out its inquiry within a more reasonable timeframe and cost than earlier envisaged.
CONWAY (NH)
Boston.com
March 23, 2005
CONWAY, N.H. -- The former pastor of a Maine church has been charged with failing to report suspicions that a former Conway police sergeant molested a teenage girl.
Donald Maranville, 50, former pastor of Fryeburg First Assembly of God Church, was charged under a state law that says anyone with reason to suspect a child has been abused or neglected must report it.
Failing to report suspected abuse is a misdemeanor. The list of people required to report includes doctors, psychologists, teachers, school counselors, day care workers, priests, ministers and rabbis.
When contacted this week, Maranville declined to comment.
He is charged with one count of "having reason to suspect a child had been abused and knowingly failing to report said abuse" between October 1998 and February 2004. He faces up to 12 months in prison and fines of up to $2,000 if convicted. He has been released on $500 personal recognizance bail until his trial, which is set for late fall.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
The former wife of sexual abuse victim Dennis Kavanaugh told a San Francisco jury Tuesday that her husband was "very guarded and inaccessible'' and had never been able to tell her during their 23-year marriage that he had been betrayed as a teenager by his priest.
"He always maintained a protective barrier within himself,'' Jean Kavanaugh said. "The closeness you expect to have with your partner ... I could only go so far.''
Jean Kavanaugh, nervously chewing gum, told the jury that her ex-husband was a good father and family provider who had rejected his Roman Catholic upbringing and would not allow their two children to attend church or Sunday school.
"He told me he did not believe in God,'' she said.
Last week, the Superior Court jury found that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco knew or should have known that the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard molested Kavanaugh at St. Martin of Tours Church in San Jose in the early 1970s. This week, jurors must decide how much money to award him.
JERUSALEM
Ynetnews.com
By Tal Rosner
JERUSALEM - The Jerusalem District Court sentenced a 37-year-old Talmud (Oral Law) teacher of mentally challenged students to a 12 year prison term Wednesday for acts of sodomy and sexual misconduct involving teens and children.
The teacher, who is currently divorced without children, mainly molested family members, including his nephew, who was 10-years-old at the time.
Investigators found dozens of naked photos of children on his personal computer.
The teacher, who grew up in New York, arrived in Israel to study in a Yeshiva; he later returned to the U.S. to complete his degree in Computer Science, but came back to Israel to teach children with learning disabilities and serve as a boarding school counselor.
The teacher told welfare services that a summer camp instructor had sexually assaulted him when he was 11 years-old.
IRELAND
One in Four
Opinion - Irish Times
This is no time to spin the truth, writes Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent.
It would be imagined that one of the last areas of human endeavour where you would find "spin", and management of news with a seeming intention to distract from the facts, would be in Church affairs. But this is not so.
Last week's statement from the Irish Episcopal Conference on its Stewardship Trust was issued to this office at 9.28pm on Wednesday night, the eve of St Patrick's Day. Wednesday was the last day of the bishops' three-day spring meeting.
The trust was set up in 1996 to compensate and help victims of incidents of clerical child sex abuse which had occurred up to then. Last Wednesday's statement was the first by the bishops to give details of how the trust's money was spent.
IRELAND
One in Four
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times
Ireland's Catholic bishops have estimated that it may cost as much as €50 million to cover the cost of compensation and help for victims of clerical child sex abuse in parishes over the next decade.
In an article published in the diocesan newspaper the Kilmore Herald on March 17th, the Bishop of Kilmore, Dr Leo O'Reilly, said this estimate was presented at a meeting of the Irish Episcopal Conference in May 2004, where proposals were invited as to how the money might be raised.
He said the annual Kilmore contribution to the Stewardship Trust, which was set up by the bishops in 1996 to cover compensation and allied costs for clerical child sex abuse in all 26 dioceses in Ireland prior to 1996, would be around €66,000. He proposed this be raised through rental income on diocesan property, contributions from himself and the priests, and income from investments.
In a statement yesterday, the Bishop of Kerry, Dr Bill Murphy, said his diocese had contributed €158,128 to the trust in 2004. This was not paid from collections taken up in parishes each weekend, or from the annual diocesan administration levy.
HAYWARD (CA)
The Argus
FROM STAFF REPORTS
HAYWARD — Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in the civil trial of two brothers suing the Diocese of Oakland over their alleged molestation by a former priest.
Jury selection was completed Tuesday morning, with the panel instructed to return Monday. Between now and then, attorneys for Robert and Tom Thatcher and for the diocese will be back before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard to discuss guidelines for evidence to be introduced at trial.
Richard Simons, the Thatchers' attorney, said questions remain regarding how much of former priest Robert Ponciroli's personnel file can be admitted and how extensive the testimony can be from other alleged victims.
The Thatcher brothers claim they were molested more than 20 years ago by Ponciroli, then the pastor at Antioch's St. Ignatius Church. Ponciroli since has been defrocked, but the lawsuit blames the Oakland Diocese — which encompasses Alameda and Contra Costa counties — for failing to protect the brothers from him.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By David Abel, Globe Staff | March 23, 2005
Cleared of accusations he molested a teenage boy in the early 1980s, the former administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes in Revere has been returned to active ministry, officials at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston announced yesterday.
The Rev. Edward Keohan, 72, could not be reached yesterday, but his attorney said the priest plans to celebrate by attending a public Mass at a parish this week in Reading. He has not been assigned a parish.
A Boston lawyer representing the accuser said his client received a six-figure settlement from the archdiocese in the case. He said he thought the review board's process was unfair.
''If nothing happened, then why did the church pay my client a substantial amount of money in settlement of his claim?" asked Mitchell Garabedian.
Ann Carter, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, declined to confirm there was a settlement and said the church thoroughly reviewed the accuser's allegations before clearing Keohan, who was ordained in 1959 and for more than a decade served as administrator at the now-closed St. Mary's Church in Salem.
Neither Carter nor Philip D. Moran, a Salem lawyer who represented Keohan, knew whether Keohan would continue to serve as a priest or what he plans to do.
SPRINGFIELD (IL)
SJ-R.com
By SARAH ANTONACCI
STAFF WRITER
Springfield police reports present two contradictory theories about what led to the severe beating of a Catholic priest in Douglas Park in December.
Police say the two teenagers accused of the crime have given them one story. However, investigative reports obtained by The State Journal-Register indicate a roommate who saw the youths immediately after the beating told police a different version.
Authorities have said the boys told them they were cutting through the park when they stopped to have a cigarette and were approached by the Rev. Eugene Costa. But, according to the thick stack of police reports, the friend said the two accused teens might have gone to the park intending to beat or rob homosexuals.
Douglas Park has a longstanding reputation as a meeting place for gay men.
Jamie E. Gibson, 17, of the 1100 block of South Spring Street and Ryan Boyle, 15, are charged with aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony punishable by up to two to five years in prison. Both were on probation at the time, and Boyle has been charged as an adult in the case.
Gibson told police during a Jan. 3 interview what "hypothetically" happened, the reports say.
"Jamie stated 'hypothetically,' 'Let's say me and Ryan were cutting through the park and stopped near the park bench to smoke a cigarette and rest for a second,'" according to one report. Gibson and Boyle "were smoking and talking when a older white male walked up to them and started talking to the pair."
The older man later was identified as Costa.
"The older male then offered the boys $50 ... for (sex acts)," says the report written by police detective Paul Carpenter. "Jamie stated he was not like that and the male rubbed up against him and touched his leg."
COVINGTON (KY)
Cincinnati Post
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
The judge overseeing a class-action lawsuit alleging the Diocese of Covington covered up a half-century of sexual abuse by priests has ordered both sides back to the bargaining table.
Special Judge John Potter on Tuesday told the diocese to bring representatives of both its insurance carriers to the next settlement negotiations.
Both sides should have a "representative authorized to settle," he said.
Potter's comments at the end of a 90-minute hearing were the first indication that all may not be well with negotiations.
The suit is being mediated by Kenneth Feinberg, the special master for the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund.
BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 7:35 am EST March 23, 2005
UPDATED: 7:45 am EST March 23, 2005
BOSTON -- A Revere, Mass., priest cleared of accusations he molested a teenage boy in the early 1980s was returned to active ministry after a church review board examined the case of the Rev. Edward Keohan, officials at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston said.
"After careful review of the information available regarding the complaint, the (archdiocese) review board determined that the allegation was unsubstantiated," the archdiocese said in a statement Tuesday.
Philip D. Moran, a Salem, Mass., lawyer who represented Keohan, said the 72-year-old priest passed a lie detector test, and that members of the accuser's family ultimately disputed the story that the man, who now is 37, had been molested.
Neither Ann Carter, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, nor Moran knew whether the former administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes in Revere would continue to serve as a priest.
"Father Keohan and I are delighted," Moran said of the church's decision. "He has devoted 45 years of his life to God as a priest, and we feel he was wrongly accused. There was no basis for the accusation."
However Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston lawyer who represented the accuser, said his client received a six-figure settlement from the archdiocese in the case.
MANCHESTER (NH)
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER — Ending a hard-fought dispute between the state and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, a judge yesterday ruled state oversight of the effectiveness of the church's child protection policies is permissible under the agreement both sides reached in 2002.
Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Carol A. Conboy also ordered the state and diocese to split the estimated $425,000 to $445,000 cost of the audits intended to determine the diocese's compliance with the agreement.
The agreement called for annual audits through 2007. To date, none have been done.
"The court's order is a victory for the children of New Hampshire," Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte said last night.
"This order will ensure that the state can conduct a thorough and independent review of the diocese's policies. The state can now evaluate whether the diocese has programs in place that effectively protect children," she added.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Nashua Telegraph
By ALBERT McKEON, Telegraph Staff
mckeona@telegraph-nh.com
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 23, 2005
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester must have its sexual abuse policies audited according to the standards of state prosecutors, a judge has ruled.
Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Carol Ann Conboy’s ruling, handed down Tuesday, most likely breaks a stalemate that prevented church and state from fully enacting an agreement the diocese signed in 2002 to avoid criminal indictments on child endangerment.
Both sides had differing interpretations of the scope of the auditing, and placed their two-year impasse in the hands of the court.
The diocese argued in court that it agreed only to a compliance review, an audit that sees if the church enacted policies to keep children safe from abuse and whether it trains its personnel. But the state attorney general’s office contended that it must gauge the effectiveness of the policies - essentially a performance audit - otherwise prosecutors could not determine if children are protected in the church.
MANCHESTER (NH)
Concord Monitor
By DANIEL BARRICK
Monitor staff
March 23. 2005 8:00AM
A judge has dismissed a claim by the Catholic Diocese of Manchester that a complete, in-depth audit of its sexual abuse protection polices violated its First Amendment rights.
Judge Carol Ann Conboy of Hillsborough County Superior Court ruled yesterday that the attorney general's office was not overextending its authority by demanding that its audit include a check of how well the church's child protection policies are working. Such a "performance audit,"Conboy concluded, falls within the outlines of an agreement reached between the church and state more than two years ago.
"In short, the court does not conclude that the proposed audit threatens the church's First Amendment rights, due process rights, or any other federal or state constitutional rights," Conboy wrote in a 14-page ruling.
The ruling also ordered that the $445,000 cost of the audit be split equally between the diocese and the state.
DALLAS (TX)
The University News
By Heather O'Connell/Contributing Writer
Published: Wednesday, March 23, 2005
The Dallas County District Attorney (DA) opened a criminal investigation last month to examine how the Catholic diocese in Dallas handles allegations of clergy sexual misconduct.
The DA, Bill Hill, intends to ascertain whether Bishop Charles Grahmann "has received any allegations of abuse by members of the clergy that have not subsequently been reported to law enforcement," Rachel Horton, a spokeswoman for Hill, said.
After examining clergy personnel records "for any indication of violations of state laws relating to minors" three years ago, Grahmann claimed all violators had been removed from ministry and all allegations of abuse had been reported to the state as required by law.
Two recent events, however, have provoked the DA's office to verify Grahmann's claim.
First, Father William Richard, a priest in Rockwall who retired last month because of a dispute concerning the parish music minister, had several claims of sexual misconduct filed against him. Several students from Catholic high schools in Dallas and Plano where Richard worked alleged incidents of sexual abuse by Richard occurring in 1993.
BROWNSVILLE (TX)
The Brownsville Herald
BY EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO
The Brownsville Herald
March 23, 2005 — More than 40 years since the disappearance and death of McAllen’s Irene Garza, a former monk is confessing to knowledge that could help solve the case.
Dale Tachney met John B. Feit in Missouri in 1963. It was another life for both men — Tachney a former Trappist monk once known as Fr. Emmanuel was charged with counseling Feit, a troubled Catholic priest sent to a Missouri monastery after spending time in the Rio Grande Valley.
Three years before, police questioned Feit about Garza’s murder. According to police documents, Feit was the last person to see the elementary school teacher alive after hearing her confession at McAllen’s Sacred Heart Church the day before Easter.
He was not charged with her murder and to date, nearing the 45th anniversary of her death, police have yet to name another suspect.
“If you are asking me if I am the man that killed Irene Garza, I am not that man. I did not kill her,” Feit, now 72, told The Brownsville Herald in 2002, during the course of several interviews for a three-year newspaper investigation into her death.
But Tachney says Feit told him a different story in 1963.
Now 75, Tachney left the monastery in July 1967. ...
Tachney said that he counseled Feit on the “urge” to molest women kneeling in prayer. He sent Feit on unsupervised visits to churches in Chicago and Missouri, telling him to kneel behind women praying in churches to see if he felt the “urge.”
Feit returned from the trips, telling Tachney that he felt no urges and was not questioned further.
“It was our position that he could now leave the monastery and that it would be safe,” Tachney said.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | March 23, 2005
Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, in his annual speech to the clergy of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, said yesterday that being a priest ''is a great challenge" but that ''never has the world needed you more than now."
Speaking to scores of priests who participated in the annual Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End, O'Malley made no direct reference to the events that have recently challenged archdiocesan priests, such as the sexual abuse scandal and the closing of dozens of parishes.
Instead, he talked about the religious dimension of difficulty, saying that ''in a priest's life, suffering can be a grace." It was an allusion to his oft-repeated position that the pain caused to the church by the abuse crisis is part of a Christ-like journey.
Without commenting on how the biblical anecdote applies to today's situation, he pointed out that ''Jesus did not seem to pick the best and the brightest" as his disciples. Priests, he said, are to be ''vessels of clay, bearing treasures for God's people."
''Jesus, . . . in forming his spiritual army, did not assemble a well-groomed, highly disciplined, state-of-the-art army of Dale Carnegie communicators in polyester suits and well-moussed pompadours, but rather he went down to the wharves and called a ragtag dirty dozen to be the pillars on which he would build his church, a clear indication that the enterprise was to be more than met the eye," he said.
GRANBY (MA)
Republican
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
By SANDRA E. CONSTANTINE
sconstantine@repub.com
GRANBY - While sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests has drawn much negative attention to the church, a Granby man who serves on the diocesan committee that investigates complaints says the problem extends far beyond Catholicism.
"It's a cultural and societal-wide problem," said Robin M. Powell, 52, of South Street. Only 4 percent of his faith's priests are sexual abusers, he said.
The Catholic Church's heavily publicized problems are just "the tip of the iceberg," according to Powell.
"We have an oversexualized society. We are bombarded with sexual imagery," he said. From cradle to grave, Americans are now subject to commercials for products such as Viagra, Powell said.
He believes the problem has roots in the loosening of attitudes that has occurred since the 1960s. "That's not always good. It's not always healthy sexuality," Powell said during a recent interview at his home.
However, Powell, who joined the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese's review board last summer, said it is humbling to hear testimony from victims.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - Updated: 04:44 AM EST
A Revere priest accused of sexually abusing a child will be returned to active ministry, the Boston archdiocese announced yesterday.
The Rev. Edward Keohan of Our Lady of Lourdes parish was placed on administrative leave in 2003 after the archdiocese received a single complaint of sexual abuse.
``After careful review of the information available regarding the complaint, the Review Board determined that the allegation was unsubstantiated,'' the archdiocese said in a statement yesterday.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
A Texas judge yesterday denied a request from the Catholic Dioceses of Worcester and Fort Worth, Texas, to dismiss a lawsuit brought by two men who allege they were sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar when they were teenagers.
Judge Len Wade also denied the dioceses’ request to exclude two forensic psychologists who will testify on behalf of John Doe I and John Doe II, the names assigned to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The psychologists, John Daigneault of Braintree, and Rycke Marshall of Dallas, will be allowed to testify.
The judge issued a short ruling yesterday in Tarrant County District Court in Fort Worth.
Tahira Khan Merritt, lawyer for John Doe II, said yesterday that a mediation session is scheduled for 9 a.m. tomorrow with a court-appointed mediator at Los Colinas, which is near Irving, Texas. Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus and retired Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger will participate in the meeting via telephone. James Gavin Reardon Jr., lawyer for the Worcester Diocese, said he will be at the mediation session.
Unless a settlement is reached, the case is scheduled for a jury trial in Texas July 25, Ms. Khan Merritt said. Ms. Khan Merritt is the lead lawyer in the case. John Doe I is represented by Daniel J. Shea of Houston, who also will be at the mediation session.
Ms. Khan Merritt said she was pleased with the judge’s decision “because it will give a Fort Worth jury an opportunity to hear what these men have to say.” In her response to the motion from the two dioceses to dismiss the lawsuit, she maintained that Rev. Teczar had an “egregious pattern of sexual abuse” and that there was an “equally disturbing pattern of denial and cover-up by the Worcester and Fort Worth” dioceses.
Ms. Khan Merritt said she telephoned families of several alleged victims of Rev. Teczar in the Worcester area about the judge’s ruling.
Mr. Shea said he is encouraged that the lawsuit will go forward “without any other delays.” He said he believed Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese acted correctly when he stopped using services of the lawyers who had been representing the archdiocese and insurance companies, hired his own lawyer and settled the cases in Boston.
“It’s what should be happened here,” he Mr. Shea said. Mr. Reardon said yesterday that the judge’s ruling did not specify his reasoning, but he noted that Texas law historically has “not been kind” to repressed memory cases. John Doe II allegedly repressed or suppressed memory of sexual abuse and began remembering later.
Rev. Teczar said in a recent interview that he never met John Doe II and knew John Doe I only from a gas station in Ranger, Texas, which was near a parish in which he served as priest. He has denied that he abused either of the men. Both Mr. Daigneault and Ms. Marshall have experience with repressed and suppressed memory clients, Ms. Khan Merritt said.
According to Ms. Khan Merritt’s court filing, John Doe II began remembering in 2002 during a time when David A. Lewcon, now of Uxbridge, contacted him and his mother to say that Rev. Teczar had sexually abused him and other minors while he was a priest in Texas.
Rev. Teczar’s authorization to function as a priest was removed in 1986 by Bishop Timothy J. Harrington and again removed in 1990, Mr. Reardon said. “He had no permission to function as a priest anywhere,” Mr. Reardon said.
Rev. Teczar was a priest incardinated into the Worcester Diocese, which means he was under care and supervision of the Worcester bishop, and the priest’s “treatment history” was provided to the Fort Worth Diocese before he went to Texas, Mr. Reardon said. “He did not have the permission of the Diocese of Worcester to be practicing as a priest,” he said.
In the case, the Fort Worth Diocese is represented by lawyer James G. Bennett of Fort Worth, and the Worcester Diocese and Auxiliary Bishop Rueger are represented by lawyer Mark D. Hatten, also of Fort Worth.
The civil lawsuit names the Worcester and Fort Worth dioceses, Bishop Joseph P. Delaney of Fort Worth, Bishop Rueger and Rev. Teczar.
The dioceses attempted to have the suit dismissed because of the statute of limitations. Ms. Khan Merritt maintained that the dioceses acted in tandem to remove Rev. Teczar from Worcester after allegations of sexual misconduct arose in Massachusetts and move him to Texas.
ARKANSAS
The Times Record
By Aaron Sadler
times record • asadler@swtimes.com
The statute of limitations has expired on a former Subiaco Academy student’s lawsuit against the school, and his sexual abuse complaint should be dismissed, the school claims.
In a federal court filing last week, an attorney for the Logan County parochial school asked for dismissal of the suit filed by Joffre J. Miller of Texas.
Miller was a student at Subiaco Academy in the late 1970s. He alleges in his complaint that the Rev. Nicholas Fuhrmann sexually molested him from 1976-79 while Fuhrmann was his teacher and boxing coach.
The suit against the school and Fuhrmann was filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith.
The school claims the statute of limitations for Miller’s allegations would have expired in 1983. The school cites a state law giving someone up to three years after their 18th birthday to seek legal relief for events that occurred while they were minors.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Stacy Finz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
After years of sexual abuse at the hands of his priest, Dennis Kavanaugh spiraled from being his parents' golden child -- a top athlete, a promising intellectual and a devout Catholic -- to a convicted felon who had lost his belief in God, according to testimony Monday.
Now, he wants the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco to pay.
Last week, a jury found that the church knew or should have known that the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard was molesting boys in Kavanaugh's San Jose parish, St. Martin of Tours, in the early 1970s, and had done nothing to stop it.
This week, that same jury began the damages phase of the case, hearing testimony about Kavanaugh's problems with intimacy and a divorce three years ago that was so bitter that he stole a loaded gun, held it on his wife and threatened to kill her. He was later convicted and served a year in prison. Since that time he went from a $90,000-a- year Silicon Valley semiconductor salesman to a $16-an-hour gardener.
IRELAND
One in Four
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times
Ireland's 4.088 million Catholics are set to pay €26.5 million over five years as a result of clerical child sex abuse in the island's 26 dioceses.
The figure amounts to €6.25 for every Catholic man, woman and child on the island and is extrapolated from financial details released by eight of the dioceses to date.
It follows a decision in 2003 by the Catholic bishops to levy every diocese, according to its Catholic population, an amount payable to their central fund for dealing with all matters arising from such abuse.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
The Anglican church in Adelaide in South Australia has vowed to undertake a culture change following the release of a new report into abuse and violence in the church.
The church commissioned academic Dr Zoe Morrison to research the attitude of its clergy and church workers to the abuse of children and the sexual abuse of adults.
Dr Morrison's report found a culture of hostility towards women was deeply ingrained and ranged from bullying to sexual abuse.
Adelaide Archdeacon Peter Stuart says the church is taking the report's findings seriously and is committed to changing its culture.
"In part what we need to do is to talk to others about what they think the culture of the church should be, so that we can get it right," he said.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune
By Alex Roth
and Jeff McDonald
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
March 22, 2005
The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego apologized yesterday to the family of gay nightclub owner John McCusker, less than a week after denying McCusker a Catholic funeral because of his "business activities," according to a statement released by McCusker's family.
In a stunning twist to a controversy that has created an uproar in San Diego's gay and Catholic communities, Bishop Robert Brom also promised to preside at a Mass in memory of McCusker at he Immaculata Catholic Church at the University of San Diego, according to the statement.
McCusker, 31, died March 13 while vacationing in Mammoth.
In the statement released by McCusker's family, Brom said, "I deeply regret that denying a Catholic funeral for John McCusker at the Immaculata has resulted in his unjust condemnation, and I apologize to the family for the anguish this has caused them. To help rectify this situation, insofar as it can be, I will preside at a Mass for the family, in memory of John, at the Immaculata. In consideration for the family, I will not be available for any further public statements on this matter." ...
The controversy over McCusker's funeral became a popular topic on the Internet and came at an awkward time for the Catholic church, which has been dealing for several years with fallout from disclosures of widespread sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the United States.
Those who showed up last night to support McCusker's family said the bishop probably didn't expect the backlash that his actions received.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO — A closely watched case that could set a benchmark for hundreds of sexual abuse claims against Roman Catholic dioceses in California moved to a crucial phase Monday as a former altar boy told jurors how he was repeatedly abused by a Roman Catholic priest over three years.
Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, testified he lost his faith in the years after he was molested in San Jose.
His mother told jurors that during his sophomore year in high school, her son lost interest in school and athletics and stopped going to Mass, telling her "there is no God."
The Archdiocese of San Francisco has conceded that Kavanaugh, a former altar boy, was molested during the 1970s by the late Father Joseph T. Pritchard and that the church must pay. What is at stake in the trial, and in a similar proceeding in Hayward, across San Francisco Bay, is how much the bill will be.
WEST WARWICK (RI)
Pawtucket Times
Justin Sayles 03/22/2005
WEST WARWICK -- A former West Warwick priest who pleaded guilty to charges that he raped a teen-age boy in the 1970s has been removed from his religious order at his own request.
James D. Campbell, 59, was sentenced to serve 90 days in prison in January on charges of rape, assault and battery, furnishing alcohol to a minor and committing an unnatural and lascivious act after he admitted in Worcester Superior Court that he raped two male teen-agers.
Campbell, who served as assistant pastor at St. Joseph Church in West Warwick from 1975 to 1978, committed the acts in Uxbridge, Mass. Both victims’ families attended the parish at the time of the incident.
Rev. Raymond Diesbourg -- a member of the governing council of Campbell’s former religious order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Aurora, Ill. -- said Monday that Roman Catholic Church officials in Rome granted the former priest his request for "laicization," or removal from the priesthood, last month.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Monterey Herald
By TERENCE CHEA
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - A 47-year-old California man who sued the Archdiocese of San Francisco for sexual abuse more than 30 years ago testified Monday that he felt "guilty, ashamed and disappointed in myself" after being molested numerous times by a San Jose priest he once admired.
As the second phase of the landmark civil trial got underway, Dennis Kavanaugh said that the Rev. Joseph Pritchard fondled him between 20 and 30 times in the early 1970s at several locations, including a golf course, the priest's rectory bedroom and a car. He also testified that he felt intense guilt for not revealing the abuse until 2002, which may have allowed Pritchard to abuse other children, including Kavanaugh's younger brother.
"I felt guilty about the fact that if I had said something, maybe a lot of people would have been spared what he did to them," Kavanaugh said in San Francisco County Superior Court. "I felt guilty. I felt ashamed. I felt afraid."
Kavanaugh is one of 22 former grade-school students who said they were repeatedly molested by Pritchard, who died in 1988 before the allegations against him surfaced. A jury hearing Kavanaugh's lawsuit against the archdiocese decided Friday that church officials knew or should have known Pritchard was abusing young boys while he was a pastor at St. Martin of Tours in San Jose.
Kavanaugh's civil lawsuit was the first of more than 750 against Roman Catholic dioceses in California to go to trial since the state temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for filing sex-abuse claims in 2002. The new law gave victims, whose allegations had previously been considered too old, one year to file molestation claims.
TUCSON (AZ)
KVOA
A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a plan by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson to sell some 85 properties to settle claims filed by people who say they were sexually abused by priests.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James M. Marlar gave diocesan officials the go-ahead during a hearing Monday after none of the creditors objected to the marketing plan and sale, which is expected to take place in about eight weeks.
The diocese is considering selling the land in a live public auction. The land is expected to raise at least $3.2 million to go into a fund for plaintiffs with valid claims of clergy sexual abuse.
The diocese's Chapter 11 reorganization plan calls for the creation of a fund to "equitably" pay all plaintiffs with valid claims of abuse.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Times
By PATTI MENGERS, pmengers@delcotimes.com 03/21/2005
John Salveson says he is through trying to reason with church officials in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia about how they handle victims of clerical sexual abuse.
"The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has neither the courage nor the integrity to do the right thing by people they victimize. Instead, they hide behind the statute of limitations," he said last Tuesday.
The 49-year-old Radnor resident, who was allegedly abused by a priest as a teenager in Long Island, N.Y., has been regional director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, since 2002.
His ire was ignited March 14 after a three-judge Superior Court panel upheld an August ruling by Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Arnold L. New dismissing 16 sexual abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia based on the statute of limitations.
"Our No.1-priority in Philadelphia for SNAP is to get those laws changed," said Salveson.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— James D. Campbell, 59, a former Catholic priest who was sentenced to 90 days in the Worcester County House of Correction, asked the Vatican to release him from priesthood and his request was granted about a month ago.
Mr. Campbell pleaded guilty Dec. 22 to sexually abusing two teenagers during the 1970s in Uxbridge. Judge Peter Agnes in Worcester Superior Court sentenced Mr. Campbell to 90 days in jail and 10 years on probation. Capt. Thomas Chappel of the House of Correction said Mr. Campbell was released Friday.
Mr. Campbell was assistant pastor at St. Joseph Church in West Warren, R.I., from 1975 to 1978, when the abuse occurred. The teenagers, who were members of the parish, were brought over the state line into Uxbridge, where the abuse occurred.
The Rev. Raymond Diesbourg, spokesman for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Aurora, Ill., said yesterday that Mr. Campbell was not defrocked, which means forced removal from priesthood, but sought laicization on his own. Laicization is a term the church uses in reference to men who leave the priesthood and return to the lay state, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Mr. Campbell was a member of the Sacred Heart order. Permission to leave the priesthood came from Rome about a month ago, he said.
Mr. Campbell was living with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Pennsylvania at the time he was indicted in 2003 by a Worcester County grand jury in connection with the abuse.
CARY (NC)
Eyewitness News 11
By Shae Crisson
(03/21/05 -- APEX) — A Cary youth minister is suspended with pay while police investigate him for possible involvement with child pornography.
Apex police began investigating Jeff Smith last week. He has served as a youth minister at Peace Presbyterian Church in Cary for the past three years, the church's pastor said.
Officers began their investigation after receiving a phone call from police in Rockford, Illinois.
"They had a juvenile in their state that had received e-mail and attached to the e-mail was child pornography," said Apex Police Sgt. Ann Moore. Search warrants say the child pornography came from an e-mail account in Jeff Smith's name.
Police took a digital video camcorder, camera, several CD's, a laptop and a desktop computer from Smith's home in Apex, where he lives with his wife and four children.
"If we feel there's a danger to the children in the home, we can contact social services," Moore said. "At this time, we do not feel like there's any reason to be concerned of any children in the home or any children that they may have contact with."
Smith has not been charged.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal
The Associated Press
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe is investigating a sexual abuse allegation against an Albuquerque priest, and has placed him on paid leave.
The Rev. Ronald Bruckner, pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Albuquerque, will remain on leave "until the situation is resolved'' and will not exercise any public ministry in the meantime, the archdiocese said in a news release.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, asked the archdiocese earlier this month to suspend the priest pending an investigation.
"This decision definitely makes kids safer but is long, long overdue,'' SNAP's national director, David Clohessy of St. Louis, said in a telephone call Monday.
The archdiocese, which covers the central part of the state, said Monday it was following its policy on sexual abuse in placing Bruckner on leave.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
KRQE
Source: Jason Gil Bear - KRQE News 13
ALBUQUERQUE -- An Albuquerque priest is under investigation for sexual abuse but parishioners say the allegations aren’t true.
The accuser claims he went to Father Ronald Bruckner for help as a boy in Los Alamos and that's where the abuse started.
The accuser is the seventh person to come forward alleging abuse by the priest. He recently came forward with the allegations.
Bruckner is now a priest at Our Lady of Annunciation in Albuquerque.
Many of his parishioners are standing behind Bruckner and believe an investigation into the abuse will be proven false.
“I'm outraged about these allegations,” says Jeff Romero, a parishioner. “I don't believe it,” he adds.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
TheNewMexicoChannel.com
UPDATED: 12:03 pm MST March 21, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Archdiocese of Santa Fe has placed an Albuquerque priest on paid leave while it investigates an allegation of sexual abuse against him.
The archdiocese said the Rev. Ronald Bruckner would remain on leave until the situation is resolved.
The archdiocese said Bruckner would not exercise any public ministry while on leave.
Bruckner is pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation Roman Catholic Church in Albuquerque.
The archdiocese said it is following its policy on sexual abuse.
NEW YORK
Village Voice
by Charlotte Stoudt
March 21st, 2005 2:15 PM
Can anyone rescue America from the never ending campaign for our souls? With the Supreme Court debating the public display of the Ten Commandments and Hillary's efforts to avoid being cast as pro-abortion in '08, the rhetoric of religious belief seems set to polarize voters far into the future. Given the righteous posturing by secular and sacred interests alike, is there anywhere to turn for a perspective that doesn't throw the holy baby out with the extremist bathwater?
Try the theater listings.
Provocative arguments about the role of faith in our private and public lives are dominating our typically secular stages right now, courtesy of playwrights and performers from Catholic backgrounds. Doubt, John Patrick Shanley's period parable about a nun struggling to take action against a priest she believes is a sexual predator, has recently transferred to Broadway after its much lauded run at Manhattan Theatre Club. Downtown, the Public Theater has offered two episodes of Divine Law & Order this season: the LAByrinth's production of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and the recent staging of Jean-Claude Carrière's The Controversy of Valladolid. While Guirgis imagines Christ's traitorous disciple on trial in a purgatorial courtroom, Carrière dramatizes an actual deliberation held in Spain in 1550, in which factions of the Church debate whether the indigenous peoples of the New World are human beings. And underground at the new Dodger Stages, the musical Altar Boyz, a sly satire on boybands, believes in getting right with God by busting a few good moves in tight corduroys.
CALIFORNIA
Dateline Alabama
By TERENCE CHEA
Associated Press Writer
March 21, 2005
A 47-year-old California man who sued the Archdiocese of San Francisco for sexual abuse more than 30 years ago testified Monday that he felt "guilty, ashamed and disappointed in myself" after being molested numerous times by a San Jose priest he once admired.
As the second phase of the landmark civil trial got underway, Dennis Kavanaugh said that the Rev. Joseph Pritchard fondled him between 20 and 30 times in the early 1970s at several locations, including a golf course, the priest's rectory bedroom and a car. He also testified that he felt intense guilt for not revealing the abuse until 2002, which may have allowed Pritchard to abuse other children, including Kavanaugh's younger brother.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Richard Yallop
March 22, 2005
SEXUAL and emotional violence towards women by priests and church workers has been ignored by a "feudal" male hierarchy in Adelaide's Anglican diocese.
Melbourne academic Zoe Morrison based her findings on a survey of 57 of Adelaide's 106 Anglican priests and in-depth interviews with 12 of the group.
She said the survey revealed an entrenched culture of hostility towards women and a reluctance by church authorities to investigate complaints of abuse.
Dr Morrison's report, to be released today to Adelaide's clergy, indicates a spectrum of verbal and physical assault towards women, ranging from isolated allegations of rape to bullying and harassment. It also alleges assaults by male clergy on female clergy.
Dr Morrison, a 27-year-old Rhodes scholar and specialist in the exercise of power in relationships, said that while child sexual abuse was now well recognised, abuse of female adults was not recognised, and in many instances church leaders had suppressed knowledge of it.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
KOBTV
Last Update: 03/21/2005 9:21:00 AM
By: Reed Upton
An Albuquerque priest who has served in the community for 40 years has been removed from active ministry following allegations of sexual abuse.
Father Ronald Bruckner’s removal from his duties at Our Lady of Annunciation parish follows a news conference held by a victims' group specifically to press for Bruckner’s removal.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, called for Bruckner’s suspension two weeks ago after an allegation that Bruckner was involved in a case of sexual abuse in the 1970s while serving as a priest in Los Alamos.
MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
Of the Post-Dispatch
Saturday, Mar. 12 2005
When priests are ordained in the Roman Catholic church, it is understood that
they will be priests for the rest of their lives. Only the Vatican can laicize
a priest ordained in the church. Bishops can't take away an ordained man's
priesthood, but they can take away his ability to minister in the church.
St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke says eight or nine men who have been removed
from ministry after accusations that they abused minors live at Regina Cleri.
The official retirement home for priests is on the archdiocese's Shrewsbury
campus, in a neighborhood with children and day care centers. Burke says the
priests who have been removed from ministry are strictly monitored by a nun who
runs the facility.
St. Louis archdiocese officials say the priests in question fall into a
different category than those housed at Vianney and RECON, local facilities
that permanently house pedophile priests from around the country. They say the
eight or nine men at Regina Cleri abused children long ago, and the abuse may
have happened only once. Burke considers them low-risk to offend again, but
because of the charter adopted by U.S. bishops in Dallas in 2002, any priest
found to have a credible allegation of sexual abuse of minors in his past is
removed from ministry.
"While all these things are deplorable," said Monsignor Vernon E. Gardin, the
archdiocese's vicar general, "there is a degree of severity - whether it's a
one-time minor occurrence to something else. . . . You can't impose a stricter
law, because they have rights as citizens."
TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A formal challenge to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's finances - specifically the omission of parishes as diocesan assets - is expected to be filed this week in federal bankruptcy court.
Ivan S. Abrams, a Tucson attorney representing one of the 34 plaintiffs with a pending lawsuit against the local diocese, says that the diocese's 75 parishes as well as its schools should be considered part of the bankrupt estate.
If the parishes are considered part of the diocese, they could be targets for liquidation by creditors, including plaintiffs with valid claims that they were sexually abused by clergy members. If they're not part of the diocese's bankrupt estate, then the parish properties - except those individually named in legal actions - would have assured protection from creditors.
Abrams said Sunday that he plans to file a formal challenge to the parish question this week. Federal Judge James M. Marlar will have the final say.
The local diocese filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Sept. 20 in the face of 22 lawsuits from 34 plaintiffs alleging sexual abuse of children by priests. The move came after the diocese reached a $14 million settlement in 2002 with 10 men who said they were sexually abused by four members of the local clergy during the 1960s, '70s and '80s. The diocese has not disclosed how much of that was paid through insurance.
When he filed for bankruptcy protection, Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas said it was the best way for the cash-strapped diocese to equitably handle current and possibly future lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by clergy. But the diocese, which listed $16.6 million in assets and $20.7 million in debts when it sought bankruptcy protection, did not include its 75 parishes in its statement of assets and liabilities, even though the diocese holds the title to those properties.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
NEW resources to compensate victims of clerical sex abuse need to be found, the Irish Bishops' Conference heard yesterday, because the bulk of a trust fund to meet such claims has already been spent.
Over the past nine years, 143 claims against 36 priests for child sex abuse have cost the Irish Catholic Church €8.78m.
This has been paid out of their Stewardship Trust which is now undergoing a review.
Most of these cases occurred prior to 1996 and the bishops heard that they are not covered by any existing insurance policy.
Since 1996, survivors of abuse have received €6.24m from the trust, while the legal costs have added an additional €2.53m to the bill.
The Stewardship Trust was funded by the traditional Catholic diocesan insurer in Ireland, Church and General, with payments of €4.3m in 1996 and a maximum agreement to pay up to €6.3m in 1999.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Jim Morahan
SUNDAY Mass collections may be used to help meet clerical abuse costs which are expected to reach €25 million over the next five years.
Abuse claims cost nearly €5m in the last two years, the Catholic Church revealed this week.
During the period the country's 26 dioceses contributed €6.3m to the central fund.
Irish bishops have announced a review of the central fund, declaring its coffers were "almost depleted".
New resources "need to be provided", said the bishops. The fund, named the Stewardship Trust, was set up in 1996 with the four archbishops as trustees.
RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal
01:00 AM EST on Monday, March 21, 2005
BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer
A Roman Catholic priest who admitted raping a boy while serving at St. Joseph Church in West Warwick three decades ago has been defrocked.
James D. Campbell, 59, who was an assistant pastor of the parish from 1975 to 1978, entered a guilty plea last Dec. 22 and is serving a three-month sentence in the Worcester County, Mass. House of Corrections.
Church officials in Rome removed Campbell from the priesthood "about a month ago," said the Rev. Raymond Diesbourg, a member of the governing council of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, a religious order whose provincial offices are in Aurora, Ill. Campbell was a member of that order.
Campbell was indicted by a Worcester County grand jury in September 2003, accused of molesting the 16-year-old St. Joseph's parishioner in the summer of 1975.
Campbell was accused of taking the boy to a restaurant in Uxbridge, Mass. and plying him with alcohol before molesting him, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 20, 2005) — The photos found on Henry James Ludington’s computer at his workplace — a Wayne County BOCES school building — were disturbing and graphic.
They showed children, some apparently as young as 6, being used as sexual playthings by adult men.
The videos were equally lurid, including a minutelong clip depicting a boy and girl, both around 10 years old, engaging in a sexual act.
Yet when Ludington appeared in court for sentencing this month, his family, friends and fellow church-goers packed the courtroom in a show of support. In letters to U.S. District Judge Charles Siragusa, they spoke of Ludington’s sterling character, trying to assure the judge that Ludington was not a man who would abuse a child.
In a statement, Ludington, a former regional math coordinator at the Wayne-Finger Lakes Board of Cooperative Educational Services, who was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison, acknowledged his taste for child pornography, but stressed that he would never hurt a kid.
Would he?
That’s the question that for now is unanswered — but it’s also a question confronting therapists, authorities and even parents who want to know how to protect their children. Earlier this month a local priest, the Rev. Michael Volino, was accused of possessing child pornography. His lawyer, echoing the claims of Ludington, says Volino has never abused a child, nor would he ever do so.
But retired FBI crime profiler Gregg McCrary is skeptical of such claims: “A lot of times they may be truthful when they say they’ve looked at it, they like the pictures, they find it erotic and they wouldn’t act on it.
“But these guys lie.”
NorthJersey.com
Sunday, March 20, 2005
By BILL WILLIAMS
THE HARTFORD COURANT
THE PONTIFF IN WINTER: Triumph and Conflict in the Reign of John Paul II, by John Cornwell; Doubleday, 336 pages, $24.95.
As one of the longest-serving and most active popes in history, John Paul II has left an indelible mark on the Roman Catholic Church. But how will history judge his pontificate?
It is a question that pervades John Cornwell's account of John Paul's remarkable life.
As a Polish cardinal, he was an unlikely choice in 1978, when the College of Cardinals elected him to, in Cornwell's words, "the strangest, most impossible and isolating job on earth." John Paul II became the first non-Italian pope since 1522 and, at age 54, the youngest since 1846. ...
John Paul's major legacy, Cornwell believes, will be his centralization of authority in the Vatican and his enfeeblement of local dioceses - an important reason why bishops did so little to rein in the priest sexual abuse scandal. Bishops thought they lacked the authority to act decisively.
PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, March 21, 2005
The Roman Catholic Church legally can demand the dismissal of lawsuits not filed within two years.
But can it morally?
A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court cited the statute of limitations when it dismissed 18 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by the clergy, filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
If the decision is not overturned, it also effectively prevents plaintiffs in 35 cases against the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh -- and those suing other dioceses in the state -- from having their day in court.
"If that is the standard for others, why would that not be the standard for the church?" asked the Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesman for the Pittsburgh diocese. "We hope it would not be a double standard."
BRITAIN
BBC News
A woman from Sussex has spoken for the first time about the abuse she claims she suffered during her time at a Bexhill orphanage in the 1950s.
Judith Kelly said she and the other children were poorly fed and routinely beaten by nuns at the Nazareth convent.
On one occasion Mrs Kelly claimed she was blamed for the death of two young girls who accidentally drowned in the sea off the rocks at Gwynne Gap.
Mrs Kelly said writing her recently published memoirs had "eased her pain".
Marjorie Mitchell who was also at the convent with Mrs Kelly in 1953 told BBC South East today about the incident.
She said that when the two young girls died, the other orphans on the beach tried to rescue them using a human chain.
But while they desperately tried to help save them she said "the nuns just sat and prayed".
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY RITA CIOLLI
STAFF WRITER
March 20, 2005
The election of the next pope is more likely to be driven by personality and friendship than ideology, a leading Vatican expert told Long Island's Voice of the Faithful members at their second annual convention in Melville yesterday.
"The cardinals are more likely to vote for someone on the basis of personal connections, relationships and friendships," said John. L Allen Jr., the Vatican correspondent for theAbuse Tracker and Vatican analyst for CNN and National Public Radio.
Predicting who will be the successor to the ailing Pope John Paul II is hazardous business, Allen told an audience of about 500 at the Huntington Hilton. However, he said the word in Rome is there are three candidates to watch: Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice, Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Although the Vatican's inner workings are complicated and only 6 percent of the world's Catholics live in the United States, Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest who was the convention's keynote speaker, told Voice of the Faithful members they must work to change the "medieval and monarchial" governance of the church.
Doyle said the sex abuse crisis spotlighted a church structure incapable of meeting the challenge of internal corruption. "The clergy sexual abuse phenomenon is about much more than dysfunctional clerics and their cover-up by dishonest monarchs," he said.
Doyle first warned church leaders of the scope of the abuse scandal two decades ago, when he was a canon lawyer for the Vatican Embassy in Washington, D.C. Since then, his criticism of the church's hierarchy has made him a target of bishops seeking to silence him and a hero to victims and groups like Voice of the Faithful, which sprung up three years ago in Boston in response to the scandal. The group seeks accountability from church leaders and supports "priests of integrity" and abuse victims.
GREECE
The Observer
Helena Smith in Athens
Sunday March 20, 2005
The Observer
Archbishop Christodoulos, head of the Greek Orthodox Church, is facing trying times. Last week, Greece's newly inaugurated President, Karolos Papoulias, spurned tradition by refusing to kiss him.
Days earlier, his closest confidant, Theoklitos, the Bishop of Thessaliotis, resigned amid accusations of homosexuality and drug dealing. And yesterday, after weeks of calls for his own withdrawal, the whiff of scandal came closer still - ensnaring his mentor, Metropolitan Bishop Kallinikos, with yet more claims of sexual impropriety. Growing numbers of the faithful have begun to wonder whether their fiery leader will survive 'Holygate'.
'There is no doubt that this crisis has blackened the face of the church,' said the conservative daily Kathimerini. 'Those who thought that the corruption scandals and shady intrigue bedevilling it were just a passing phase have been forced to reconsider.'
The revelations are mind-boggling. Almost daily, men once revered as paragons of virtue have been exposed as lascivious money-grabbers. Recorded conversations of eminent clerics engaging in 'love talk' have been broadcast on television, secret bank accounts revealed, and malfeasance unearthed, with priests emerging as central players in activities as disparate as trial-fixing, antiquities smuggling and election rigging. Highlighting a raft of lurid sexual claims, one newspaper splashed what was purported to be a 91-year-old priest in bed with a woman across its front page.
NEW YORK
Star-Ledger
Sunday, March 20, 2005
BY STUART MILLER
Star-Ledger Staff
NEW YORK -- Brían F. O'Byrne welcomes a visitor to his dressing room at the Walter Kerr Theater with an apology. The cast of the off-Broadway hit "Doubt" has just moved into the show's new Broadway theater, and its lead actor hasn't had the chance to make it feel like home.
Among O'Byrne's scant personal touches already present are a New York Mets pocket calendar, a baseball that chants "Let's Go Mets" when it's bounced, and his Mets calendar with its daily trivia question. A photo shoot and rehearsal await, but now it's quiz time: In 2000, he asks, where did the Mets tie their 1964 team record with 23 hits in a nine-inning game?
The answer is Colorado, but the scene begs another question: How did someone from the tiny Irish town of Mullagh; someone who grew up a Gaelic football fan; someone so Irish his first name is pronounced "BREE-un"; someone who earned two Tony nominations for Irish imports and a Tony Award for an English play, become obsessed with the Mets?
After disdaining baseball for his first decade here, O'Byrne, 37, went to Shea Stadium. Soon he began listening on the radio. Then he realized he was in love.
"I bring my radio to the game and sit with my buddies, it's totally dweeb city," he says proudly, adding that his Mets flag will soon adorn his dressing room.
Perhaps it's not so shocking that he'd discover his inner American.
O'Byrne plays his first American character -- Father Flynn, with his heavy Bronx accent -- in John Patrick Shanley's drama about a liberal priest who may or may not have molested a boy and a conservative nun (Cherry Jones), who may or may not cross the line in dogged pursuit of him. The actor has loved New York since he spent a summer as a teenager doing construction in Brooklyn, soaking up sunshine, spending every cent he earned, and reveling in bars that stay open until 4 a.m. He has lived here since 1990, when an uncle got him a green card so he could pursue his career as an actor.
BRITAIN
Times & Star
Published on 20/03/2005
A FORMER Workington priest has appeared in court charged with 15 counts of indecent assaults and five of gross indecency at a private school 32 years ago.
Father Gregory Peter Carroll, 65, taught at Ampleforth College between 1973 and 1983.
He was linked to the fee-paying school until 1987, when he moved to Workington’s Our Lady and St Michael’s Church, where he spent about 14 years as a priest.
The alleged assaults date back to his time at the college, and the alleged victims were all under 14 at the time.
The charges were brought after a 12-month police probe into Ampleforth Abbey, which is attached to an independent school run by Benedictine monks.
BRITAIN
Sunday Business Post
Rock Me Gently: A True Story of a Convent Childhood, By Judith Kelly, Bloomsbury, €15.80.
I read Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra many years ago and vividly recall having to stop halfway through, as the story became too harrowing. I never did finish the book. Rock Me Gently by Judith Kelly awakens those same feelings. The complete helplessness you feel as stories of childhood abuse unfold before your eyes is overwhelming.
Kelly's skill in telling her story is that she never resorts to self-pity. Rather, she tells her story in such a detached manner that it is evident the abuse she suffered went so deep as to numb her to its effects.
Kelly's father died when she was young, and she and her mother moved in with her grandparents. However, her mother's romance with another man caused endless rows with her grandparents, and eventually led to them moving out.
Her mother had difficulty finding somewhere to live that also accepted children. She was eventually forced to leave eight-year-old Kelly with the nuns in Nazareth House, a Catholic orphanage in “middle England'‘. Her mother left, promising that “it's not forever, Judith; it's just until I can find somewhere for us to live'‘.
It was four years before she came to take her away for good, too long a time to save her daughter from the life-altering abuse she suffered.
UNITED STATES
Mercury News
By Thomas G. Plante
In recent weeks, the clergy sexual-abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church again has made national headlines. This time it focused on the newly released second annual report by U.S. bishops stating that 1,092 new accusations of sexual abuse by priests have surfaced during the past year, with 22 new accusations made by children during 2004.
The report further stated that the church has now spent more than $800 million on lawsuits and settlements, with costs of about $140 million in 2004 alone.
Going bankrupt
Just a few weeks earlier, the Diocese of Orange County settled a lawsuit for $100 million, and recent news has reported that the dioceses of Tucson, Spokane, Wash., and Portland, Ore., have all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with more to come. Perhaps the next big news story will involve the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, with a lawsuit including more than 500 victims. Based on the recent settlements figures, one wonders whether the Los Angeles lawsuit settlement might exceed a half-billion dollars.
BRITAIN
Guardian
Simon Hoggart
Saturday March 12, 2005
The Guardian
· I was looking through the Bookseller list of bestselling books the other day, and grim reading it makes. Take the hardbacks: at number 1, The Little Prisoner, by Jane Elliott, described as the story of a girl abused from the age of four by her stepfather. At 3, A Brother's Journey by Richard B. Pelzer. Dave's younger brother tells of his side of the story of childhood abuse. At 4 is Rock Me Gently by Judith Kelly, the memoir of a miserable upbringing in a Catholic orphanage.
Perhaps the paperbacks will be a little more cheery - after all, they're what people take on holidays. They don't want more unhappiness, surely? Apparently they do. At 2, One Child by Torey Hayden. Educational psychologist helps an abused child back to life. At 3, Sickened, by Julie Gregory. Account of being raised by a mother with Munchausen's syndrome by proxy. At 5, Just A Boy, by Richard McCann. Son of the Yorkshire Ripper's first victim recounts his traumatic childhood. Next, two by the doyen of abusive childhoods, Dave Pelzer. At 6, The Privilege of Youth ("traumatic life story reaches teenage years and bullying at high school") and at 7, Pelzer's My Story - three volumes of tormented youth in one edition. And coming in at 8, To Die For by Carol Lee - autobiography telling of a young woman's battle with anorexia.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
MAEVE SHEEHAN
THE Catholic hierarchy has discussed asking wealthy benefactors and priests of independent means to foot the estimated €25m compensation bill for victims of child abuse.
In the most serious financial crisis to beset the Catholic church in Ireland, bishops disclosed last week that they are running out of money to meet the spiralling costs of indemnifying the victims of clerical sex abuse.
A tax-free fund set up in 1996, the Stewardship Trust, is almost depleted and bishops are reviewing other ways of raising money to meet their liabilities.
More than €8m has been paid to abuse victims since it was set up, with €5m paid in the past two years. The country's 26 dioceses have contributed €6.3m to the central fund.
Hierarchy sources said this weekend that bishops are considering turning to wealthy benefactors to provide tax-free donations. Individual priests and bishops will also be asked to contribute. Many already have. Bequests left to the church for bishops to spend at their discretion are also likely to be pooled for the fund.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Beacon Journal
JOHN NOLAN
Associated Press
CINCINNATI - Now that the Cincinnati Archdiocese has concluded compensating victims of priest sex abuse, parishioners say they see evidence that the archdiocese is taking molestation complaints more seriously and that abuse will no longer go unreported.
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk suspended three priests last week from active ministry after the compensation panel concluded there was a basis to give money to three victims who said the clergy members abused them as children.
Catholic bookstore owner Suzanne Schneller said she saw the suspensions as evidence Pilarczyk is taking the problem seriously. The archbishop suspended the priests pending Vatican review of whether they should be allowed again to present themselves as clergy.
The $3 million compensation fund was part of the 19-county archdiocese's 2003 plea agreement to end a prosecutor's investigation of whether clergy abuse of children wasn't reported to authorities. The archdiocese pleaded no contest to failing to report crimes and was fined $10,000.
Increased scrutiny of priests makes abuse less likely to go undetected as it did for years, several parishioners said.
"I would find it really difficult to imagine a current situation not being reported," said Schneller, 55.
WASHINGTON
KGW
03/19/2005
Associated Press
Two lawsuits have been filed against a Northwest seminary, alleging that officials there were told by a former priest that he had molested boys at its now-defunct St. Thomas Seminary in Kenmore.
Attorneys representing 30 alleged victims of the former priest, Patrick G. O'Donnell, last week sued the Sulpician Seminary of the Northwest, which operated St. Thomas, and the Associated Sulpicians of the United States, based in Baltimore.
The complaints say O'Donnell told seminary officials he had molested boys there between 1968 and 1971.
A call to the Associated Sulpicians was not immediately returned Saturday.
The seminary sent O'Donnell to sexual deviancy counseling, but did not prevent his becoming a priest. O'Donnell led a parish in Spokane and worked as a Boy Scout chaplain, a youth director for the diocese and director of a diocesan youth basketball league, said Seattle attorney Michael Pfau, who filed the lawsuits.
The Sulpicians wrote glowing recommendations for O'Donnell's ordination, Pfau said, telling the Spokane bishop that he was "good priestly material."
MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/19/2005
The Rev. James McGreal of Seattle has admitted to sexually abusing hundreds of children between the 1960s and 1980s. The Seattle archdiocese has so far agreed to pay almost $10 million to 26 of those victims, but because of Washington's statute of limitations, McGreal has never been convicted of a crime.
Because McGreal can't be sent to jail and has never been laicized (or defrocked) he is the responsibility of Seattle's archbishops.
For the last 20 years McGreal, now 81, has been living at the Vianney Renewal Center, near Dittmer in Jefferson County. Vianney and a nearby facility called RECON are the only two places in the country where bishops can permanently send dangerous pedophile priests.
"For those who need to be in a completely supervised environment there are two centers, which as providence would have it, are both in this archdiocese in the United States," said St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke in a recent interview.
Three years after the Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis broke in Boston, U.S. bishops are struggling to figure out what to do with priests who have been removed from ministry for sexual abuse of minors.
"This is a significant issue," said Sheila Kelly, deputy executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops's Office of Child and Youth Protection. "The basic concern is - are these people living and working in circumstances where they cannot continue to abuse children?"
TROY (NY)
Troy Record
By: Robert Cristo, The Record 03/18/2005
TROY - Attorney John Aretakis was not only denied a request that Rensselaer County Surrogate Court Judge Christian Hummel recuse himself from a case, but the judge turned around and slapped Aretakis with a $7,500 fine.
Aretakis is representing Troy resident Christopher Allen in a re-trial. Allen, 20, was found guilty of rape and other charges in 2002 and sentenced to spend the next 30 years behind bars.
In a 57-page decision, Hummel refused Aretakis' request and blasted the attorney for having "reckless" and "intentional disregard" for the truth in alleging that the judge had a personal vendetta against him from past court cases.
"The court finds that Mr. Aretakis' motion in this matter is frivolous as being without merit in law, undertaken primarily to delay or prolong the resolution of litigation and to harass and maliciously injure another and that it asserts material factual statements that are false," wrote Hummel in the decision.
The past cases Aretakis has handled which he believes are grounds for Hummel to recuse himself from the rape trial involve a series of alleged clergy sex abuse cases he brought against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany beginning two years ago.
In those cases, Aretakis alleged the court had removed a document from the court files and was guilty of criminal tampering with evidence. He also accused the court of engaging in mail fraud by allegedly misdirecting or retarding the passage of mail that was meant for him.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, March 19, 2005
ALBANY -- The leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and Albany County's new district attorney met behind closed doors for the first time this week to discuss, among other issues, clergy sex abuse.
The hourlong meeting Thursday between Bishop Howard Hubbard and District Attorney David Soares came just weeks after Soares said the possibility of convening a grand jury to explore how the diocese handled sex abuse allegations wasn't out of the question.
On Friday, Soares described the discussion as an "informational meeting," adding there was neither discussion of any potential grand jury action, "nor of anything this office is doing or going to do."
"He was very forthcoming with what the church is doing to address these issues they're facing," Soares said. "It was a good meeting."
PAWCATUCK (RI)
The Westerly Sun
By Tom Kasprzak - The Sun Staff
PAWCATUCK - When parishioners of Sacred Heart Church in Norwich learned that their leader, Father Thomas McConaghy, was being accused of molesting a boy in the 1970s while serving at a military academy in Long Island, they were shocked.
For some former parishioners at St. Michael in Pawcatuck, the accusations have brought back painful memories of the past.
McConaghy, referred to by parishioners at St. Michael as "Father Tom," was pastor of the church from 1990 to 1998. During that time, a man named Michael Zaharie, a Pawcatuck resident, was volunteering his time at the school, taking students on trips and allegedly molesting them in private.
Kathy Shortridge, of Pawcatuck, who said her son was molested by Zaharie from the age of 7 to 15, says she believes Father Tom knew what was going on the entire time. Zaharie was ultimately convicted on two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of first-degree assault. He served time in prison before his 2004 release.
Shortridge recalls how school and church officials appeared to address the alleged incidents.
"They had meetings about my son, without me being able to go," Shortridge says today.
IRELAND
One in Four
by Patsy McGarry and Liam Reid of The Irish Times
Irish bishops have launched a review of a central clerical abuse compensation fund that is almost depleted following a steep rise in the cost of claims that have reached €5 million in the last two years alone.
Following a three-day meeting in Maynooth, the bishops released national figures on abuse payments for the first time.
The figures show that since 1996 the Stewardship Trust has contributed to compensation settlements for 143 people in relation to abuse by 36 priests, amounting to €8.77 million. That figure includes €2.53 million in legal costs.
These figures relate only to diocesan priests and do not include religious orders.
CALIFORNIA
Appeal-Democrat
Appeal-Democrat and wire service reports
Yuba County District Attorney Pat McGrath said he will seek the extradition of a priest convicted of sexually molesting a minor in 1989, now that the Rev. Jose Luis Urbina has been discovered serving as a priest in Mexico.
Urbina fled the country after his 1989 conviction in a Yuba County court and later served for about a decade at his hometown parish in Navojoa, Mexico, the Dallas Morning News reported in its ongoing series on accused Roman Catholic priests who are now working in other countries.
"We will start exploring extradition for Mr. Urbina immediately," McGrath said.
Urbina, now 51, left Yuba County before then-Municipal Judge James F. Dawson could sentence him. He had been released on $2,500 bail.
Urbina served in the Yuba-Sutter area from about 1979 until 1984, living in the rectory at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Yuba City and working at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Marysville.
In 2003, a then-33-year-old Yuba City man sued Urbina and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, alleging that Urbina molested him from 1980 to 1986, when he turned 17. The suit is pending in Sacramento County Superior Court.
NEW YORK
Troy Record
By: Robert Cristo, The Record 03/19/2005
An appellate court ruling quashed two priests' attempts at silencing attorney John Aretakis, who represents numerous victims of alleged clergy sex abuse.
After months of debate, the five-member Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court gave Aretakis the right to publicly disclose contents of complaints of unethical behavior made against him.
"They agreed that I can report a grievance made against me to the media without permission from the court," said Aretakis. "Now that this monkey is finally off my back, I'm free to get back to doing my work."
The unanimous judgment went in Aretakis' favor, despite Committee on Professional Standards charges that Aretakis was violating provisions of the Judiciary Law for making public the complaints of Schenectady priest Carl Urban and Albany Diocesan Chancellor and spokesman Kenneth Doyle.
The three-page document, signed by Clerk of the Court Michael Novack, permitted Aretakis to "disclose" the contents of the "complaints" made against him and dismissed the charged made against him.
Aretakis also considered the decision a victory for lawyers across the state who wish to disclose complaints made against attorneys.
ROCHESTER (NY)
WSTM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. The Catholic bishop of Rochester says he and the diocese "erred very badly" in the case of a priest accused of having child pornography.
Bishop Matthew Clark apologized to the community and Saint John the Evangelist Church in suburban Greece.
Father Michael Volino of that parish was assigned to pastoral work after a church-run psychiatric center recommended that he be restricted from ministry involving children. Volino was charged last week with receiving and possessing child pornography after the images were found on his computer. There were no allegations that he abused any children.
Volino has been confined to a monastery in Elmira pending a federal trial.
GREEN BAY (WI)
Press-Gazette
By Andy Nelesen
anelesen@greenbaypressgazette.com
An April 20 jury trial for a priest accused of sexual assault was scuttled Friday when his lawyer asked for more time to prepare his case.
Donald Buzanowski, 62, faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child for allegedly fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1988 while serving as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay.
The alleged victim made allegations in 1990, but the case was not prosecuted because of a lack of evidence. Another man came forward last year with allegations from about the same time period and prosecutors were able to develop other information, prompting the charges to be filed in October 2004.
Buzanowski has pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Buzanowski’s lawyer, Owen Monfils, dropped a request for a speedy trial and asked for more time to review evidence and prepare for trial. Brown County Circuit Court Judge J.D. McKay rescheduled the jury trial for July 26.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staf writer
(March 19, 2005) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester suffered lapses in its oversight of priests when it allowed the Rev. Michael Volino to work in the school at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece, despite concerns about Volino's contact with children, Bishop Matthew Clark said Friday.
The bishop, who granted a series of media interviews throughout the day, said the diocese wants to find out where the lapses occurred, and how to ensure they don't happen again.
"We have to figure out how that happened and why," Clark said.
The diocese has come under criticism since Volino's arrest earlier this month on federal charges of receiving and possessing child pornography.
Clark stressed there have been no allegations that Volino abused anyone. The diocese did not ask the priest to go to a Maryland psychiatric center out of fear that he could be a predator, Clark said.
OAKLAND (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Ivan Delventhal
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
OAKLAND - The attorney for two brothers whose clergy abuse lawsuit against the Diocese of Oakland will open soon said he was not surprised by a jury's decision to find the Archdiocese of San Francisco liable in a similar case.
A San Francisco jury, by a 10-2 vote, found Friday that the archdiocese knew or should have known that the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard was sexually abusing boys in the 1970s. The damages phase of the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Dennis Kavanaugh is to begin Monday.
Hayward attorney Rick Simons, who is representing plaintiffs Robert and Tom Thatcher in their lawsuit against the Diocese of Oakland, said the jury's decision in the Kavanaugh case was a clear rejection of the "We didn't know about this" defense.
The verdict also showed how persuasive victim testimony can be, Simons said.
"What most of the lawyers who are representing the Oakland Diocese don't seem to recognize is that these (victims) are very truthful, they are very believable and there's nobody making this stuff up," he said.
In the Thatcher case, the brothers allege they were molested by former priest Robert Ponciroli at St. Ignatius Church in Antioch in the early 1980s.
CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times
By Robin Evans
KNIGHT RIDDER
In a decision that could affect dozens of similar cases, the first jury to reach a verdict in California's nearly 850 clergy molestation lawsuits found Friday that there were enough signs of suspicious behavior by a San Jose pastor that church officials should have reported, investigated and stopped it.
The civil lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court was brought by 47-year-old Palo Alto resident Dennis Kavanaugh, who said he was abused as a boy by St. Martin of Tours Church pastor Joseph Pritchard from 1971 to 1973.
The jury reconvenes Monday to determine damages, a process Judge John Munter estimated would take a week. Other Pritchard cases are scheduled to follow.
But the verdict is likely to put pressure on the church to settle the other cases, said attorney Robert Tobin, who has three clients whose cases are next in line for trial.
The announcement of the verdict was met with elation by alleged victims of other priests who had sat through the four-day trial.
ARLINGTON (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
08:50 PM CST on Friday, March 18, 2005
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON – A prominent pastor indicted on charges of sexually assaulting three women said Friday that he was innocent and asked the public to pray for his family – and those of his accusers.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his arrest and indictment last week, and flanked by more than a dozen church members, including his wife, Renee, Mr. Hornbuckle said he's looking forward to proving his case to doubters.
"Our day in court will come," he said. "I have confidence in our legal system, and I have confidence in my legal counsel. My innocence will be proven."
By Anthony Spangler
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
ARLINGTON - Standing hand in hand with his wife and surrounded by supporters, Bishop Terry L. Hornbuckle on Friday denied criminal and civil allegations that he sexually assaulted three former parishioners.
Hornbuckle, 43, of Grapevine, faces four charges of sexual assault and one charge of possession of a controlled substance. Authorities said they found a small amount of methamphetamine in Hornbuckle's Cadillac Escalade when he was arrested March 11 near his Arlington church, Agape Christian Fellowship.
In two of the cases, he is accused of using date-rape drugs to overcome his victims, according to court documents.
"I'm here today to tell you that I am unequivocally and emphatically innocent of all these charges," Hornbuckle said during the news conference in a meeting room at the Arlington Wyndham hotel.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
In the midst of the U.S. Catholic Church's clerical sexual abuse crisis, the most severe crisis in its history, more than 600 people have made commitments to convert to Catholicism and join parishes in the Toledo diocese next Saturday.
"I think it just goes to show us how the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit is going to work well beyond our own human crisis," said the Rev. Charles Singler, rector of Rosary Cathedral and director of worship for the diocese. "The call to holiness transcends all the crisis and trauma in the church."
Father Singler, who assists parishes conduct classes for the Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults (RCIA), said those who decide to convert are required to attend classes and Mass for six months to a year, depending on the local parish's policies. "During this period of enlightenment, they are intensely preparing for their initiation," Father Singler said.
The initiation of 618 converts is scheduled to take place at Rosary Cathedral on Holy Saturday's Easter Vigil.Abuse Trackerly, more than 150,000 people are converting that day, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Keralanext
[US News] SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco's Roman Catholic Archdiocese was aware of the sexual abuse of a teen-age boy by one of its priests in the 1970s, a jury decided on Friday in a verdict with implications for hundreds of similar lawsuits in California.
"This verdict resolved the issue of whether the Archdiocese of San Francisco knew or should have known," said Larry Drivon, the lawyer for 47-year-old Dennis Kavanaugh, who sued the Archdiocese alleging one of its priests molested him repeatedly when he was a teen-ager.
San Francisco Archbishop William Levada said church officials were never aware of any abuse.
"I find it very troubling that while the Archdiocese certainly did not know of the molestation, a very subjective judgment can be made under the law, using today's sensibilities regarding what the Archdiocese 'should' have known more than 30 years ago," Levada said in a statement.
GREEN BAY (WI)
Post-Crescent
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
GREEN BAY — An April 20 trial for a priest accused of sexual assault was scuttled Friday when his lawyer asked for more time to prepare his case.
Donald Buzanowski, 62, faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child for allegedly fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1988 while serving as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay.
The alleged victim made allegations in 1990, but the case was not prosecuted because of a lack of evidence. Another man came forward last year with allegations from about the same time period and prosecutors were able to develop other information, prompting the charges to be filed in October 2004.
Buzanowski has pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Buzanowski’s lawyer, Owen Monfils, dropped a request for a speedy trial and asked for more time to review evidence and prepare for trial. Brown County Circuit Court Judge J.D. McKay rescheduled the jury trial for July 26.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
01:37 AM PST on Saturday, March 19, 2005
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
A former Inland priest accused of fondling a San Bernardino girl during the 1980s is at the center of a new lawsuit alleging that he raped a girl in Iowa decades earlier.
The lawsuit filed last week in Iowa accuses the Rev. John Schmitz, now deceased, of sexual assault.
That litigation comes more than a year after a California woman sued the Diocese of San Bernardino, claiming the priest had fondled her during confession at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral in San Bernardino in 1985.
The woman was about 12 years old when the alleged incident occurred.
The lawsuits have also raised questions about how Schmitz ended up working in the Inland diocese for almost two years after he had been rejected by the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa.
Schmitz, who died in 1991, had been sent to a treatment center in 1982 after the Dubuque Archdiocese received complaints from parishioners about his financial management and his relationship with an adult woman, according to the archdiocese.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 19, 2005) — On Friday, Bishop Matthew Clark answered questions for the first time since the arrest earlier this month of the Rev. Michael Volino on federal charges of receipt and possession of child pornography. In 2002, the diocese sent Volino to St. Luke's Institute, a church-run psychiatric facility in Silver Spring, Md. Counselors there cautioned that Volino should not be left alone with children or work in school settings. The diocese has been accused of ignoring some of those recommendations while Volino, now 41, continued to work as a priest in Monroe County, most recently with the St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece. Below is a transcript — edited for length and clarity — of an interview Friday of Bishop Clark by reporter Gary Craig.
Question: Going back to 2002 ... can you say what prompted the decision for the St. Luke's assessment of Father Volino?
Clark: In general, there were concerns in the community by people who care very much for Father Volino about maturity and development ... in a young adult male of his age. There was thought that if we could invite him to an evaluation of those elements in his life that it might afford an opportunity for growth and better self-understanding. It's probably a good place to make the point, in the context of your question, that there was not then, nor has there been since then, any kind of allegation against him of sexual misconduct or the abuse of children.
When you talk about some concerns within the community that led to sending Volino to St. Luke's, are you talking about a couple of people raising issues? More than a couple?
Clark: It wasn't a great groundswell. And, to be honest with you, I don't remember exactly and precisely who they were. (They were) friends and colleagues of Father Michael and those who cared about him."
BELLEVUE (WA)
King County Journal
2005-03-19
by Noel S. Brady
Journal Reporter
BELLEVUE - New evidence in the case of a former Catholic priest and Bellevue child and family psychologist accused of molesting dozens of boys has triggered two new civil lawsuits against the Kenmore seminary where the man trained to be a priest.
Attorneys representing 30 alleged victims of Patrick G. O'Donnell filed two civil lawsuits this week against the Sulpician Seminary of the Northwest, which ran the now-defunct St. Thomas Seminary in Kenmore, and the Associated Sulpicians of the United States. The attorneys claim O'Donnell told seminary officials he had molested boys there between 1968 and 1971.
While the seminary sent O'Donnell to sexual deviancy counseling, they did not prevent him from becoming a priest and going on to lead a parish in Spokane and work as a Boy Scout chaplain, a youth director for the diocese and director of a diocesan youth basketball league, said Seattle attorney Michael Pfau, who filed the lawsuits.
In fact, the Sulpicians wrote glowing recommendations for O'Donnell's ordination, Pfau said. They told the Catholic Bishop of Spokane that O'Donnell was ``good priestly material,'' knowing he was a sexual predator of boys.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Stacy Finz, Don Lattin, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Jurors at a key sexual abuse trial found Friday that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco knew or should have known that a San Jose priest was molesting boys in his parish in the early 1970s.
The jury's 10-2 decision puts new pressure on the church to reach what could be a costly collective settlement with dozens of other abuse claimants in Northern California. Unlike a criminal trial where a unanimous verdict is required, a civil lawsuit can be decided on a 9-3 jury vote.
Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, said he was molested by the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard as many as 30 times from 1971 to 1973 while he attended St. Martin of Tours Church in San Jose, which at the time was overseen by the San Francisco Archdiocese. He said the archdiocese could have put a stop to the abuse, but didn't.
The six-woman, six-man jury began deliberating before noon on Thursday after hearing more than two days of emotional testimony. The verdict came before 10 a.m. Friday.
As the verdict was read by the court clerk, people in the gallery clapped and sobbed. One woman screamed in apparent relief.
The spontaneous celebration prompted San Francisco Superior Court Judge John Munter to shout for order.
FORT SMITH (AR)
TheHometownChannel.com
POSTED: 9:02 pm CST March 18, 2005
UPDATED: 9:09 pm CST March 18, 2005
FORT SMITH, Ark. -- Lawyers for Subiaco Academy are arguing that a man who says he was abused by a priest who taught at the Catholic school can't file suit because the statute of limitations is up.
The Catholic school filed a response in federal court to a suit filed earlier this month by the accuser. The accuser's suit claimed he was abused from 1976 to 1979. The priest and school are named as defendants.
The priest no longer teaches at the northern Arkansas school, but still lives and works there.
ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC
For the first time since the arrest of a local priest accused of downloading child porn on his church computer, Bishop Matthew Clark is talking publicly. The Bishop sat down with NEWS 10NBC Friday and answered tough questions concerning the case of Father Michael Volino who is charged with receiving and possessing child pornography.
NEWS 10NBC learned that a mental evaluation recommended that Volino not be allowed around children but he was teaching at a catholic school at least once a week. “It shouldn't have happened. He should not have been in that school. The fact is that he was and we're trying to determine precisely why that was,” said Clark.
Three years ago a report by the saint Luke’s institute in Maryland told the diocese that Father Volino should not have contact with children.
But Vather Volino did, teaching at Saint John the Evangelist School in Greece. And before that as a Boy Scout volunteer through Saint Lawrence Church in Greece.
Bishop Clark says he did not have the right system and protocol in place to follow the saint Luke’s recommendation. “I do believe that those who I asked to implement this 05 may have offered some interpretation to the material they received in such fashion that to be teaching in a school with supervision was okay.”
ARLINGTON (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Star-Telegram
ARLINGTON - Bishop Terry L. Hornbuckle denied criminal and civil allegations that he sexually assaulted three female parishioners, during a press conference in a ballroom at the Arlington Wyndham hotel Friday morning.
Hornbuckle, 43, of Grapevine, was indicted last week on four charges of sexual assault. Former members of Agape Christian Fellowship allege that he assaulted them in a vehicle or an apartment. In two of the cases, he is accused of using date-rape drugs to overcome his victims. The women have also filed personal injury lawsuits against Hornbuckle.
Authorities also have charged him with possession of a controlled substance after saying they found methamphetamines in his vehicle during his arrest.
Hornbuckle has been place on an indefinite leave of absence by the church's board.
"I am unequivocally and emphatically innocent of these charges," Hornbuckle said.
Hornbuckle said anyone who knows the kind of Christian he is knows he is innocent. He said he was confident he would be cleared in court.
His wife, Renee Hornbuckle, said she believes her husband is innocent and that the accusations are tearing away at her family's spiritual and personal lives.
ARLINGTON (TX)
NBC5i
POSTED: 12:16 pm CST March 18, 2005
UPDATED: 1:13 pm CST March 18, 2005
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Bishop Terry Hornbuckle spoke publicly Friday morning in response to allegations that he sexually assaulted three women who attended his church, Agape Christian Fellowship.
"First of all let me say this: I am here today to share with you that I am unequivocally and emphatically innocent of all of these charges," said Hornbuckle.
Hornbuckle was indicted earlier this week on charges of sexual assault. He has been accused of drugging two of the three women before sexually assaulting them.
"If anyone know me as a person and the things I stand for as a man, as a father, as a husband and as a Christian ... that these are charges that are frivolous and those are accusations that I once again, categorically deny," said Hornbuckle.
Police also said they found between 1 and 4 grams of methamphetamines in his car at the time of his arrest.
"I say this to you, and to my church family and to my family that I know that our day in court will come ... I have confidence in our legal system and I have confidence in my legal council that my innocence will be proven," said Hornbuckle.
ARLINGTON (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Star-Telegram
Bishop Terry L. Hornbuckle, of Agape Christian Fellowship church in Arlington, held a press conference 10 a.m. Friday at the Arlington Wyndham. The following is a transcript of what was said.
Stephen Schechter, of 5W public relations in New York:
"My name is Stephen Schechter and I am with 5W PR and I am here to help facilitate this press conference. Bishop Hornbuckle is going to make a brief statement followed by Pastor Hornbuckle, Renee, is going to make a statement as well and then Michael P. Heiskell will be making a statement and answering questions. Ladies and gentlemen, Bishop Terry Hornbuckle."
Terry L. Hornbuckle, bishop of Agape church:
"First of all, let me say good morning. And we welcome all the press here today and thank you for your kindness and thank you for abiding by some of the things that was asked of you.
First of all let me say this, I'm here today to tell you that I am unequivocally and emphatically innocent of all these charges.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
News4Jax.com
POSTED: 3:23 pm EST March 18, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A former pastor Friday pleaded no contest to having sex with a teenage girl and was sentenced to six months in jail, three years of probation and must register as a sex offender.
Alexie Kelly was pastor of the Little Rock Baptist Church on Dec. 31, 2003, when he was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a 13-year-old girl.
At the hearing, Kelly's attorney read a letter from the victim asking that he not do any jail time, but the victim's mother said her daughter will never get back what he took from her.
The mother said Kelly needs to find a way to redeem himself in the eyes of his church.
ARLINGTON (TX)
KHOU
02:57 PM CST on Friday, March 18, 2005
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON - A prominent pastor indicted on charges of sexually assaulting three women said Friday that he was innocent and asked the public to pray for his accusers and for his own family.
“If anyone knows me as a person and the things I stand for as a man, as a father, as a husband and as a Christian, they know these charges are frivolous,” said Terry Hornbuckle, bishop of Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Arlington.
Surrounded by more than a dozen church members, including his wife, Mr. Hornbuckle said he’s looking forward to proving his case in court. His attorney, Michael Heiskell, would not let Mr. Hornbuckle answer questions from the media gathered for the press conference at the Wyndham Arlington Hotel.
Mr. Heiskell also criticized the Tarrant County district attorney’s office for its vigorous pursuit of what he described as a thin case. He said that the $405,000 bail amount and additional restrictions, such as requiring him to wear an ankle monitor, was unusually harsh.
In addition to the sexual assault cases, Mr. Hornbuckle was also charged with possession of between 1 and 4 grams of methamphetamine that police said they found in his car when the pastor was arrested.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 18, 2005) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester suffered lapses in its oversight of priests when it allowed the Rev. Michael Volino to work in the school at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece, despite concerns about Volino's contact with children, Bishop Matthew Clark said today.
The bishop, who conducted a series of media interviews throughout the day, said the diocese is studying how the oversight slipped and is crafting ways to ensure it does not happen again.
"We have to figure out how that happened and why," Clark said. "That's part of our challenge ... in the days ahead. If that was a breakdown, and it seems pretty clear it was, it was a breakdown not in good intention or not in the common sense of the people involved in it.
"... I think thus far this remains murkier than I'd like because we don't have that kind of clarity on hand by which to help us understand more fully what happened," Clark said.
The diocese has come under criticism since Volino's arrest earlier this month on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. In 2002, the diocese asked Volino, now 41, to undergo a weeklong evaluation at a Maryland-based psychiatric center for priests because of questions about behavioral issues and maturity.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 18, 2005) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester suffered lapses in its oversight of priests when it allowed the Rev. Michael Volino to work in the school at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece, despite concerns about Volino's contact with children, Bishop Matthew Clark said today.
The bishop, who conducted a series of media interviews throughout the day, said the diocese is studying how the oversight slipped and is crafting ways to ensure it does not happen again.
"We have to figure out how that happened and why," Clark said. "That's part of our challenge ... in the days ahead. If that was a breakdown, and it seems pretty clear it was, it was a breakdown not in good intention or not in the common sense of the people involved in it.
"... I think thus far this remains murkier than I'd like because we don't have that kind of clarity on hand by which to help us understand more fully what happened," Clark said.
The diocese has come under criticism since Volino's arrest earlier this month on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. In 2002, the diocese asked Volino, now 41, to undergo a weeklong evaluation at a Maryland-based psychiatric center for priests because of questions about behavioral issues and maturity.
SAN FRANCISCO
Mercury News
KIM CURTIS
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - The Archdiocese of San Francisco knew or should have known that one of its priests was molesting boys during the 1970s, a jury decided Friday in a landmark case. The jury will now decide how much to award the victim.
By a 10-2 vote, the jury decided in favor of 47-year-old Dennis Kavanaugh, who had sued the archdiocese, alleging that the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard had molested him during the early 1970s.
Kavanaugh's was the first of more than 750 lawsuits against Roman Catholic dioceses in California to go to trial since California temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for filing sex-abuse claims in 2002.
The verdict and any subsequent award for damages could have broader implications for other lawsuits by increasing the pressure on the church to settle.
Testimony in the damages portion of the trial is scheduled to begin Monday.
"This victory is based and rests on the efforts, the courage, the guts and determination of so many incredibly brave survivors that came forward over the years," said Kavanaugh's attorney, Larry Drivon. "This is a vindication of their bravery."
MYSTIC (IA)
Daily Iowegian
March 18, 2005
A former Mystic resident who settled a law suit against the Catholic Diocese of Davenport said despite what the court papers filed by his attorneys said, he was never a member of the Catholic Church.
Richard Clark of Winterset had filed 10 counts against the Diocese of Davenport in regard to incidents he charged occurred between 1957 and 1959 in the former Mystic church. The church was dissolved in 1999. He accused the late Father Louis Telegdy of sexual abuse.
Clark said the accusations occurred while he was in the Boy Scouts. He said he wanted to set the record straight so friends still in the area did not think he was fabricating the charges.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
Out in America
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO (AP) - San Diego's Roman Catholic bishop has denied funeral rites to a man who owned a bar and a dance club popular with gays, citing a clash with the church's moral teachings.
John McCusker, who was gay, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at a ski resort, his family said.
Arrangements had been made to hold funeral services at the Immaculata Catholic Church on the University of San Diego campus, McCusker's alma mater that is affiliated with the church.
But San Diego Bishop Robert Brom decided none of the 98 Catholic churches in San Diego or Imperial counties could provide funeral rites for McCusker, who was 31.
"The facts regarding the business activities of John McCusker were not known by church officials when arrangements were requested for his funeral," the diocese said Thursday in a statement. "However, when these facts became known, the bishop concluded that to avoid public scandal Mr. McCusker cannot be granted a funeral in a Catholic church or chapel in the Diocese of San Diego."...
Other dioceses have sometimes denied funeral Masses for mobsters, including John Gotti. In other cases across the country, some priests accused of sexual abuse have been granted Catholic funeral services, including John Geoghan, the Boston Archdiocese former priest whose sex-abuse case helped spark a nationwide church scandal.
ROCHESTER (NY)
WROC
3/18/2005 6:00 PM
Bishop Matthew Clark spoke out for the first time Friday about allegations against a local priest. Father Michael Volino, of St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece, is charged with possessing child pornography.
The Bishop says he's speaking out to reassure the community that the diocese takes very seriously it's responsibility to protect children. But, he also acknowledges there's been a serious collapse in communication.
"I need to acknowledge that we've had a breakdown in our procedures," Bishop Clark said Friday.
His response comes amid new information which surfaced during Volino's court appearance this week. A report was sited which suggested the priest was not supposed to be working with children. That came from the Saint Luke Institute, a facility for troubled priests in Maryland. Volino spent several weeks there at the Bishop's request for counseling on "maturity issues," not sexual concerns, according to Clark.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Stacy Finz and Don Lattin, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, March 18, 2005
A jury concluded today that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco knew or should have known that a priest at one of its churches was molesting boys in his parish in the early 1970s.
The decision and a jury verdict on damages, which the panel will consider next week, could influence what Catholic dioceses will have to pay to settle 150 top 200 clergy sex-abuse coverup cases that plaintiffs have filed across Northern California.
The plaintiff in the case decided today, 47-year-old Dennis Kavanaugh of Palo Alto, was the first person to take one of these lawsuits to trial against the Catholic Church in California since a 2002 state law temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on damage claims against organizations that gave known pedophiles access to more victims.
Kavanaugh said in his suit that the San Francisco Archdiocese had been in a position to know that the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard, his former priest at St. Martin of Tours Church in San Jose, was a serial molester but that church officials had done nothing about it. Kavanaugh says Pritchard molested him as many as 30 times from 1971 to 1973.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
CBS 5
03/18/05 11:20 PST
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
A San Francisco Superior Court jury found today that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco is liable for a priest's molestation of a boy in a San Jose parish more than 30 years ago.
The civil jury concluded by a 10-2 vote that the archdiocese should have known by the end of 1973 that the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard had engaged in illegal sexual conduct.
The jury will reconvene Monday morning in the court of Judge John Munter to determine the amount of financial compensation to be awarded to the plaintiff, Dennis Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh, 47, of San Jose, alleged that Pritchard molested him between 20 and 30 times in the St. Martin of Tours Parish in San Jose between 1971 and 1973. The parish was part of the San Francisco archdiocese at the time.
Kavanaugh's lawsuit is the first of about 160 pending lawsuits filed against Northern California dioceses to go to trial. The suits have a total of 200 plaintiffs who allege Roman Catholic priests molested them in the past.
NEWARK (NJ)
Worrall Community Newspapers
By: A. E. Gualtieri, Staff Writer 03/17/2005
The Episcopal Diocese of Newark is the defendant of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed on March 2 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of two female employees.
Michele Wilson, of Roselle, an administrative assistant for the diocese, filed a complaint of sexual harassment with the EEOC after the diocese did not address the harassment, the complaint filed in U.S. District Court alleges.
The suit alleges violations of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC announced.
According to the suit, a diocesan priest, the Rev. Dana Rose, a vicar of Trinity Church in Irvington, regularly made offensive sexual comments to Wilson and another co-worker, Maxine Gooden of Teaneck, during his visits to diocesan offices in Newark.
The complaint alleges that Rose stated he was going to visit Wilson's home and attempted to contact her at home.
The suit also alleges that Rose made inappropriate and offensive statements to the two women such as, "You didn't say that last night when I was at your house making your scream."
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
(March 18, 2005) — Come back to DemocratandChronicle.com at 5 p.m. for coverage of an interview today with Bishop Matthew Clark, in which he addressed the response of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester to the recent arrest of the Rev. Michael Volino on child pornography charges.
The diocese has come under criticisim for possibly ignoring a 2002 evaluation of Volino in which counselors warned that he should be kept away from children.
A complete report on the interview will appear in Saturday's print and online editions.
CALIFORNIA
Dateline Alabama
The Associated Press
March 18, 2005
Yuba County authorities will seek the extradition of a priest convicted of sexually molesting a minor in 1989, now that the Rev. Jose Luis Urbina has been discovered serving as a priest in Mexico.
Urbina fled the country after his conviction and has served at his hometown parish in Navojoa, Mexico, for about a decade, the Dallas Morning News reported in its ongoing series on accused priests who are now working in other countries.
The newspaper also reported that another former Sacramento diocesan priest under investigation for child molestation is working in a remote region in southern Mexico. The Rev. Garardo Beltran disappeared in 1991 after Sacramento police began investigating allegations that he molested two young girls.
While in the Sacramento diocese, Urbina was accused of sexually molesting a boy over the course of several years, in one instance pointing a gun at his victim before molesting him. Urbina admitted guilt but left the country before sentencing.
TEXAS
KGBT
Reported by Romeo Cantu
A handful of protestors showed up Thursday at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle Shrine the shrine, saying their angry that the Brownsville Diocese continues to withhold vital information when it comes to sexual abuse cases within the church.
The four protestors were members of the Call To Action group.
They said that they were there as a sign of protest for the way the Diocese and Bishop Raymundo Pena handle sexual abuse cases involving its priests.
"Our goal is to once again request from our Bishop to come forward and make public the names of those priests that have had allegations of abuse against them," said David Saavedra, co-chairman of the Call To Action chapter in McAllen.
GREECE
The Globe and Mail
By DOUG SAUNDERS
Friday, March 18, 2005 Page A12
ATHENS -- In the shadow of the Acropolis, Greeks are witnessing a scandal-plagued showdown -- involving allegations of drug-dealing bishops, bribe-taking judges and a mysterious fugitive -- that could permanently sever the ancient bonds of church and state.
A series of stunning revelations has uncovered what seems to be a powerful criminal element within the leadership of the Greek Orthodox church. Run by bishops accused of serious crimes, the ring is reported to exert control over Greek politicians and judges, and to have used the church's almost unlimited powers to build a mafia-like hierarchy of wealth and corruption.
This week, the scandal threatened to reach the very top of this secretive church. Archbishop Christodoulos, the 66-year-old leader of the church, has been accused of working with a convicted drug smuggler named Apostolos Vavilis, who is wanted by Interpol and believed to be hiding in Italy. The archbishop said this week that the relationship is innocent, but police want to question Mr. Vavilis about his role in the church, where he allegedly acted as an envoy at the highest levels.
The church, which for decades has seemed immune to criticism, has begun to be shaken. During the ceremonial inauguration of a new Greek president on Saturday, half a dozen members of parliament stormed out of the legislature, and dozens more refused to stand, when the archbishop entered the chamber in his ceremonial headdress and carrying his sceptre.
GREECE
Houston Voice
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s embattled Orthodox Church leader led nationwide prayers last week for an end to sex-and-corruption scandals facing his bishops — but just 250 worshippers turned up to attend his service at Athens Cathedral. Archbishop Christodoulos had called on churchgoers and clergymen to pray to “cure the disease” of scandals that have shaken the foundation of Greece’s official church. A clergyman was expelled for allegedly engaging in sexual activities with other men, and another priest suspended following pedophilia allegations. Nightlong vigils were planned across Greece, but it was not immediately clear how many people attended church services elsewhere in the country or whether plans for a second prayer vigil would be kept.
SCRANTON (PA)
Scranton Times
Chris Birk 03/18/2005
A Diocese of Scranton priest was charged Thursday with downloading and viewing images of child pornography while staying at St. Ann's Church rectory in Tobyhanna.
The Rev. Virgil Bradley Tetherow, also known as Father Gabriel, 1219 Jackson St., Scranton, was arraigned Thursday morning before Magisterial District Judge Clancy Dennis on 10 counts each of sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication facility, both third-degree felonies.
The arrest came exactly two months after Pocono Mountain Regional Police began investigating child porn allegations surrounding the Tobyhanna church rectory. A man brought in to clean up the hard drives of the rectory computers discovered images of young men engaged in sexual acts on a computer used by the church secretary, the parish priest, the Rev. Michael Kloton, told detectives.
Father Kloton agreed to a voluntary search, and detectives removed the computer a day later.
Police initially discovered more than 10 images of children between the ages of 10 to 14 engaged in sexual acts or simulated sex acts on the secretary's computer. Days later, on Jan. 20, the parish priest turned over another computer suspected of containing illegal images, this one kept in the room used by Father Tetherow.
BRITAIN
News & Star
Published on 18/03/2005
A FORMER Workington priest has appeared in court charged with 15 indecent assaults and five counts of gross indecency at a private school.
Father Gregory Peter Carroll, 65, spent 14 years at Workington’s Our Lady and St Michael’s Church from 1987. The charges relate to his previous job at Ampleforth College, where he worked between 1973 and 1983. The alleged victims were under 14 at the time.
The charges were brought after a 12-month police probe into Ampleforth Abbey, which is attached to an independent school run by Benedictine monks. Fr Carroll appeared at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday. He did not enter a plea and was released on bail. He was well-known in Workington who started the town’s credit union and was a chaplain to the old infirmary on Honister Drive.
He was also instrumental in setting up a home for released prisoners in the town.
HARRISBURG (PA)
Public Opinion
Staff report
HARRISBURG — During the week of Nov. 8 to 12, the Diocese of Harrisburg underwent the second audit of its compliance with the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" since its adoption by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002.
The Diocese of Harrisburg has again been found in full compliance to the bishops' charter.
During the year between the two audits, approximately 9,000 people have had their criminal background checks reviewed by the diocese. Approximately as many people have viewed the "Youth Protection Program Educational Video," developed through the Youth Protection Council of the Diocese of Harrisburg, which is part of the diocese's "safe environment" educational program.
Last September the Diocese of Harrisburg released its safe environment training program mandated by the U.S. bishops and geared toward students in grades 1 through 8. A total of 13,456 students are served by Catholic schools and 20,150 by parish religious education programs.
Since the 2003 audit, the diocese has received five new allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests. Three of the allegations were concerning priests who are deceased.
AUSTRALIA
The Sunday Mail
18mar05
A FORMER Scout master and a former Catholic school teacher have been charged with pedophile offences by South Australian Police.
The charges are the latest by a SA pedophile task force, which has now charged more more than 25 people, including church officials and a Salvation Army minister.
The latest charges were laid against a former Catholic schoolteacher in Canberra today, the officer in charge of the task force, Detective Superintendent Grant Stevens, said.
The 76-year-old former teacher at Adelaide's Blackfriars College was charged with 18 counts of indecent assault and 18 counts of gross indecency.
The offences were allegedly committed in Adelaide between 1955 and 1959 on seven boys aged 10-12 at the time.
BEAVERTON (OR)
OregonLive.com
Friday, March 18, 2005
The case: Keith Trevor Robinson, a 37-year-old youth volunteer at the New Vision Fellowship Church in Beaverton, is in the Washington County Jail on charges of sexually abusing girls he met through the church or his wife's in-home day-care center.
Update: Robinson was arraigned this week on a third count of first-degree sexual abuse involving a third victim under the age of 14. While the two earlier charges involved incidents that allegedly happened in 1999 and in 2000 or 2001, the newest charge involves abuse that allegedly happened last year.
What's next: Robinson's bail, previously $1 million, is now $1.25 million. Defense attorney James Glover said he would schedule a release hearing to ask that bail be lowered.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Friday, March 18, 2005 - Updated: 08:03 AM EST
Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley yesterday marked St. Patrick's Day by offering a prayer for peace in Ireland.
At a special Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End, O'Malley blessed shamrocks for hundreds of worshippers and addressed Irish Consul-General Isolde Moylan.
``We feel very close to your country . . . and we feel very deeply what happens there,'' O'Malley said. ``We pray that Ireland will achieve not just peace . . . but solidarity.''
The Mass included Gospel readings in both English and Gaelic, and a homily by the Rev. Paul B. O'Brien, who compared St. Patrick's transformation from a life of sin and enslavement to the archdiocese's own metamorphosis through a season of scandal.
``I can't pretend to explain the last five years . . . (but) I believe Jesus Christ loved the Archdiocese of Boston as much as he has loved any people at any time anywhere,'' said O'Brien, pastor of St. Patrick's parish in Lawrence.
``I believe (Jesus) knew and accepted the sexual abuse of children as our sin. I believe he knew and accepted our mismanagement . . . I believe he wanted us to experience the fullness of reconciliation.''
SAN FRNCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Stacy Finz, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, March 18, 2005
It didn't take long for the officers of the court to see how hard it is to find a jury that can dispassionately pass judgment on Catholic bishops accused of covering up the crimes of pedophile priests.
No one had even mentioned the name of Bishop Emeritus John Cummins, the retired leader of the Diocese of Oakland, when the second potential juror questioned at the Hayward Hall of Justice offered her opinion:
"John Cummins pushed it under the rug,'' said the woman, a Catholic who has worked for the church. "It should have been dealt with a long time ago.''
This week, lawyers on both sides of the bay argued the first two cases to face juries from hundreds of lawsuits filed against the church under a 2002 state law.
CANADA
Chicago Tribune
Tribune news services
Published March 18, 2005
CORNER BROOK, Newfoundland -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of St. George is seeking bankruptcy protection against more than $40 million in sexual-abuse claims.
St. George's is the first Catholic diocese in Canada to make such a move, according to Catholic News Service. Three U.S. Catholic Dioceses--Portland, Ore., Tucson, Ariz., and Spokane, Wash.--have filed for bankruptcy in the face of millions of dollars in lawsuits.
St. George's Bishop Douglas Crosby said last week that more than $40 million in abuse claims have been filed against his diocese linked to the case of Kevin Bennett, a former priest who was convicted of sexually abusing several young men over two decades and served four years in prison.
A year ago, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that the diocese was liable for the claims by people who said Bennett had molested them. So far, 36 people have filed abuse claims.
"No amount of money can compensate for the abhorrent taking of innocence," Crosby said in a statement announcing the bankruptcy filing. "We are determined to treat the victims fairly with the greatest possible value of our assets.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee
By Jennifer Garza -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, March 18, 2005
Two former Sacramento diocesan priests who fled the country after charges of sexual abuse are serving as priests in Mexico, news that has outraged victims and local diocesan officials.
The Roman Catholic priests are the Rev. José Luis Urbina, who was convicted of sexually molesting a minor in 1989, and the Rev. Gerardo Beltrán, who disappeared in 1991 after Sacramento police began investigating allegations that he molested two young girls.
Urbina has been serving at his hometown parish in Navojoa, Mexico, for about a decade. While in the Sacramento diocese, Urbina was accused of sexually molesting a boy over the course of several years, in one instance pointing a gun at his victim before molesting him. Urbina admitted guilt but left the country before sentencing.
Beltrán serves in a remote region of southern Mexico.
The Dallas Morning News reported the priests' whereabouts as part of the newspaper's ongoing series on accused priests who are now working in other countries.
Urbina and Beltrán have been wanted by local authorities for more than a decade.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by GUSTAVO ARELLANO
Document #6 in our Orange diocese document derby doesn't reveal any new accusations of priestly boy-buggering. Instead, it's a e-mail written by diocesan vicar general Michael Heher the day that lawyers for both sides announced the $100 million settlement, along with the diocese's own history on how the deal was done. Some notes on the e-mail:
*Heher, knowing of dissension within Orange diocesan employees, sends the history of the settlement by separate e-mail and warned priests, "This is for your information, not for publication (emphasis in the original).
*Heher concludes his memo by telling priests that if they speak with reporters, "Recall that you are acting as the Bishop’s agent. Criticisms and complaints are best made directly to the Bishop, not through the media." To date, not a single Orange County priest has commented on the sex-abuse scandal.
THE E- MAIL
From: Father Michael Heher < frmheher@rcbo.org >
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 17:52:46 -0800
To: < undisclosed-recipients:; >
Subject: Settlement Agreement Signed
The detailed settlement agreement has been signed by all parties and the "gag order" has been lifted. The Diocese resolved 90 civil cases for alleged acts of the sexual abuse of minors. Here is a quick outline of the specifics:
§ The cost will be $100 million; 50% of this money will be paid by our various liability insurers.
DALLAS (TX)
CBS 11
Mar 17, 2005 8:37 pm US/Central
A North Texas pastor charged with a sex crime is out of jail tonight.
56 year old Larry Crocker of Lakeview Christian Church in Northeast Dallas is charged with two counts of indecency with a child.
Garland police say the juvenile says he was too embarrassed to report the molestation the first time.
NORWICH (CT)
New York Newsday
March 17, 2005, 11:33 PM EST
NORWICH, Conn. -- A former Norwich pastor has avoided prison time after pleading no contest to coercion charges related to the alleged sexual assaults of two girls.
Isaac Goodwater, 48, was released on two years of conditional discharge after a sentencing hearing Thursday in New London Superior Court. If he violates the terms of the discharge, he could be sent to prison.
Goodwater was arrested in 2003 while he was pastor at the Emmanuel Church of God in Christ. He was initially charged with first-degree and fourth-degree sexual assault and two counts of risk of injury to a minor.
The charges were reduced to two counts of coercion as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
He was accused in 2003 of assaulting a girl he had met at the church in his car. Norwich police arrested him again later the same year when allegations surfaced that he had fondled a 13-year-old parishioner in a church office three years earlier.
Goodwater declined comment at court Thursday morning. It is not clear whether he still works at the church.
PENNSYLVANIA
Star-Ledger
Friday, March 18, 2005
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
A Pennsylvania priest who lived at a Catholic church in West Orange in December and January was charged yesterday with possession of child pornography in Monroe County, Pa.
The Rev. Virgil Bradley Tetherow, 40, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton, Pa., allegedly downloaded images of child pornography onto a computer used by a secretary at the St. Ann's Catholic Church rectory in Tobyhanna, Pa., while visiting there in January, authorities said.
Tetherow, who lived at St. Ann's for most of 2004, admitted to the allegation, according to detective Kenneth Lanning of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police in an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
Tetherow began living and working at St. Anthony of Padua Church in West Orange in December. He is a longtime friend of the new priest, the Rev. John Perricone.
Newark Archdiocese spokesman James Goodness said Tetherow requested permission from the archdiocese in December to perform sacraments at the church, as priests based outside a diocese are required to do if they want to work within another diocese's boundaries.
WASHINGTON (DC)
National
By Joe Feuerherd
It was hardly a gathering of the American Catholic left. No, the March 14 press conference at which the newly formedAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management was launched reeked "Establishment" -- with a capital E.
Publicity for theAbuse Tracker Press Club kick-off was handled by Porter Novelli, the multi-national image maker. A luncheon spread greeted the press -- the p.r. types know that reporters on empty stomachs can get feisty. On the dais: two bishops, an archdiocesan personnel director, three businessmen, a representative of Catholic philanthropic foundations and a former college president.
Not a bomb-thrower among the group.
Kicking off the event was Geoffrey T. Boisi, member of the Papal Foundation, product of Chaminade (Long Island's straight-laced all-boys Marianist-run high school), Boston College and the Wharton School of Business. Formerly a partner at Goldman, Sachs & Co., Boisi now is vice chair of JPMorgan Chase.
Among his varied interests and pursuits, the soft-spoken Boisi is a Republican Party fundraising machine. Public records ( www.opensecrets.org) indicate that the Locust Valley, N.Y., resident and his wife contributed well over $100,000 in the last election cycle to Republican causes: $50,000 to the RepublicanAbuse Tracker Committee, $5,000 to John Thune (R-SD), the conservative Christian who defeated Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, and $2,000 each to incumbent Republican senators Kit Bond (MO), Jim Bunning (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AL) and Arlen Specter (PA). The Boisi's provided $6,000 to George W. Bush's campaign, $10,000 to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's "Volunteer Political Action Committee," and additional thousands to nine state Republican parties.
ADRIAN (MI)
Daily Telegram
By Dennis Pelham -- Daily Telegram Staff Writer
ADRIAN -- A youth pastor at the Adrian Church of God was convicted Wednesday in Lenawee County Circuit Court in one of three cases of alleged sexual abuse of teenage girls.
A week before he was to go to trial, Phillip Troy Elliott, 30, entered a no-contest plea to one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was found guilty by Judge Timothy P. Pickard after reading an Adrian police report in which a 14-year-old girl claimed Elliott had sex with her four or five times from February through April last year.
Two other teenage girls younger than 16 reported Elliott improperly touched them after driving them to his or a relative's home instead of church-related activities.
Defense attorney Stanley Sala of Adrian asked Wednesday for the no-contest plea that allowed Elliott to avoid any admissions that could be used against him in potential civil lawsuits.
ADRIAN (MI)
WOOD
ADRIAN, Mich. A youth pastor has pleaded no-contest to a charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a 14-year-old member of his church.
Phillip Troy Elliott entered the plea yesterday, a week before he was to go to trial in Lenawee County.
Elliott remains free on bond pending sentencing April-21st. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Catholic
by: Robert P. Lockwood
A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court dismissed a series of civil lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for clergy sexual abuse that took place decades ago.
The state appeals court unanimously affirmed a ruling by Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Arnold New that the civil lawsuits involving allegations of abuse, some from as far back as nearly 50 years, did not meet the standards of Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations.
The Superior Court ruled that “we decline to create a judicially crafted exception to the statute solely with regard to the Catholic Church.”
The 18 dismissed civil lawsuits, all involving allegations of sexual abuse, are virtually identical in their argument to those that have been filed by the same attorney in dioceses throughout Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh. The decision, if upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, effectively nullifies the civil lawsuits against the Diocese of Pittsburgh as well.
SCRANTON (PA)
The Morning Call
An unemployed Scranton man was arrested Thursday on charges he downloaded child pornography onto a computer while staying at St. Ann's Catholic Church Rectory, police said.
Virgil Bradley Tetherow, 40, admitted he downloaded the pictures while he was staying at the rectory during January 2004 and January 2005, Pocono Mountain Regional Police said.
Police said the investigation began Jan. 17 when they were informed images of young men engaged in sexual acts were found on a computer at the rectory.
Tetherow was charged with sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication facility.
MENDHAM (NJ)
Observer-Tribune
MARIA VOGEL-SHORT 03/16/2005
MENDHAM - The local chapter of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), a national organization formed to protect people from sexual abuse by priests, will find no welcome at St. Joseph Church.
The new pastor at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church has notified the group that it can’t meet at the church. The group had planned to meet on April 11.
The Voice of the Faithful was formed in Boston two years ago in the wake of the scandal involving sexual abuse by priests The group has called for changes in the Catholic church, including more openness in helping those who have been abused by priests.
Theresa Padovano, a member of the leadership team of the Voice of the Faithful Northern New Jersey, said the new St. Joseph pastor, Rev. Joseph Anginoli, cancelled the April 11 meeting without explanation.
Padovano said the group has been shunned before. The Newark archdiocese, she said, had not allowed the group to have personal speakers or meetings inside churches in the archdiocese, she said.
The former pastor at St. Joseph’s Church, the Rev. Phillip Briganti, had allowed the group to meet at the church. Briganti resigned last month after police investigated an extortion attempt against him over a picture sent over the Internet. His replacement, Anginoli, did not return telephone calls for comment.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, March 17, 2005
A third-grader sitting on a priest's lap in his private living quarters is not necessarily a cause for concern, two sex-abuse experts testified Wednesday in San Francisco.
It all depends on what else was going on at the time, according to testimony from retired investigators from the sex crimes units of the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department.
Their opinions came on the final day of testimony in a groundbreaking lawsuit filed against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco by Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, who says he was repeatedly molested in the 1970s by a priest in a San Jose church.
The lap-sitting issue has come into play in part because of the testimony Tuesday of two other men who say they were also molested in separate incidents by the priest, the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard, at St. Martin of Tours Church.
They both testified that they had been sitting on Pritchard's lap as he molested them when another priest walked in on them in Pritchard's private quarters. Kavanaugh's attorneys have tried to show that as a result, the San Francisco Archdiocese, which oversaw the church, knew or should have known that Pritchard was a molester, did nothing about it and thus should be liable for damages.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
NBC 11
POSTED: 1:14 pm PST March 17, 2005
UPDATED: 1:28 pm PST March 17, 2005
A San Francisco Superior Court jury is expected to begin deliberating Thursday afternoon in a civil lawsuit in which a San Jose man claims a Roman Catholic priest molested him 30 years ago.
Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, claims the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard molested him a number of times in a San Jose parish between 1971 and 1973.
The defendant in the case is the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, which at the time supervised the parish.
The archdiocese has conceded that the molestation took place, but contends church officials were not responsible because they did not know about it.
Archdiocese attorney James Goodman told the jury during closing arguments, "This is a very unfortunate case about a man who, as he was entering his teenage years, was unfortunately the victim of unlawful sexual conduct by a Roman Catholic priest."
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Peter Bronson
Enquirer staff writer
If gossip is sinful, Cincinnati Catholics may set a record for Hail Marys this month. Rumors about Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk are being passed around like a collection plate.
One said a group at the recent Catholic men's conference would demand Pilarczyk's resignation. It didn't happen.
Then a rumor said Pilarczyk had already resigned but the pope was too ill to find a replacement or doesn't want Pilarczyk to quit.
"I have absolutely no reason to believe that is true,'' said Cincinnati Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco. "He has never said anything to me that would give a particle of truth to that."
Critics of Pilarczyk point out that other bishops have resigned without warning after top-secret negotiations with the Vatican.
Maybe. But it's probably just wishful thinking. Demands for Pilarczyk's removal are rising. Collections were down 14 percent last year. If the church were a parliament, Pilarczyk might get a vote of no confidence.
"There are two, ever-broadening camps," said Suzanne Schneller. She owns a Catholic bookstore, Innervisions, on Beechmont Avenue, where she hears so much talk, "sometimes I feel like an elevator operator."
Pilarczyk has been accused in news reports and court cases of lying about his knowledge of priests who molested children. As the scandal eats at the church from within, Pilarczyk is blamed.
BROWNSVILLE (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Associated Press
BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The Vatican is reviewing the case of a former priest in the Brownsville diocese to determine if he should be defrocked, a spokesman for the diocese said Wednesday.
Monsignor Ivan Rovira took a post at a Catholic university in Mexico after Brownsville Bishop Raymundo Pena removed him from the ministry under the one-strike-and-you're out rule, which permanently bars priests confirmed to have sexually abused a minor.
"We did discover evidence that these allegations were substantiated," the Rev. Heberto M. Diaz Jr. said Wednesday at a news conference. "So then he was removed from ministry immediately."
He said Rovira's case was sent to the Vatican for consideration of whether he should be defrocked. Rovira could also petition the Vatican to become a layperson, The Brownsville Herald reported in its Thursday editions.
The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday that Rovira was among priests celebrating Mass last month as the new bishop was installed in Matamoros, Mexico.
"He was vested as priest, celebrating Mass and that is where the problem was," Diaz said Wednesday in Brownsville. "The Diocese of Brownsville is profoundly sorry for the pain it has caused them (Rovira's accusers) and their families."
BELLINGHAM (MA)
Milford Daily News
By Sara Withee / Daily News Staff
Thursday, March 17, 2005
BELLINGHAM -- The Rev. Paul Desilets has given official notice he will continue fighting extradition on sex abuse charges, Worcester District Attorney John Conte's office said yesterday.
Many expected the move by the 81-year-old priest, who has been appealing his return for three years.
"It doesn't surprise me in the least," Bellingham Detective Sgt. Richard Perry said yesterday.
In a March 6 story, Desilets' attorney, Guylaine Lavigne of Montreal, told the Daily News her client planned to keep appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada, the nation's highest court. But Conte's office said she had until last Friday to file.
Conte's office began the extradition process to return Desilets in fall 2002, several months after a Worcester County grand jury indicted the priest on 32 criminal charges for allegedly abusing 18 altar boys at the former Assumption Parish.
CALIFORNIA
Mercury News
By Robin Evans
Mercury News
A retired public school principal who once was chairman of the parish council at St. Martin of Tours in San Jose testified Wednesday in a trial about abusive priests that his wife was ``cautious'' with their children around their new pastor after another guest at a dinner party commented he was ``queer or played with little boys.''
But Santa Clara resident Ronald Modeste said he didn't believe the allegations against the Rev. Joseph Pritchard, a fellow coach he had known previously through a Catholic athletics league. And, in testimony in San Francisco Superior Court in one of the first jury trials in some 160 sex-abuse cases against Roman Catholic dioceses in Northern California, he said he never reported them to anyone.
``I was reasonably upset about him saying something like that because I knew'' Pritchard, he said.
Modeste was one of two witnesses for the San Francisco Archdiocese who said they never saw anything sexually suspicious in Pritchard's behavior, as church lawyers tried to counter claims the archdiocese should have been aware of molestation by the parish pastor and done something to prevent it.
The dinner party took place in the summer of 1971, Modeste said, shortly after Pritchard had joined the church. It was in the fall of that year that the now-deceased priest began molesting a 13-year-old parish school student, according to testimony Tuesday by the boy, now a 47-year-old Palo Alto resident, Dennis Kavanaugh.
WESLACO (TX)
KGBT
Reported by Romeo Cantu
A Weslaco family told Action 4 News Wednesday night that they were very upset after learning their former priest was still leading worship services after being banned from doing so due to accusations that he sexually assaulted several children.
"I felt very angry," said Josie Rocha, the mother of two sons who have accused their former priest of sexual assault. "I know how much this meant and the pain it had caused my children -- my sons."
Rocha, her husband, Joe, and their youngest son, Jaime, said that they were upset after seeing their former priest on television celebrating a mass.
"We were flipping channel and we noticed there was a procession going on. And all of a sudden my husband pointed him out to me and said, 'There he goes,'" Josie Rocha said. "I couldn't believe it seeing him dressed as a priest walking among the other priests.
The Rocha's former priest is Monsignor Ivan Rovira, who two weeks ago was discovered celebrating the mass of a new bishop in Matamoros.
OHIO
Cincinnati Enquirer
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS - A proposal to toss out the deadline for suing over past child sexual abuse has been tried in only a few states, and the constitutionality of such a move is up in the air.
The Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue over alleged abuse that happened decades ago.
The bill would extend the deadline for filing abuse claims from one year after the person who files the lawsuit turns 18 years old to 20 years after the person turns 18.
In addition, the legislation adds clergy to the list of professionals required to report suspected abuse.
Courts in California are considering constitutional challenges to that state's 2002 law.
In Illinois, a judge said that state's child abuse law couldn't be used to revive old cases.
PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily Times
The Associated Press
By David B. Caruso
PHILADELPHIA -- Lawyers for Roman Catholic dioceses across the state said they intend to ask judges to dismiss dozens of lawsuits filed by people who say they were sexually abused by priests many years ago.
The move follows a ruling by a panel of Superior Court judges on Monday that Pennsylvania's two-year statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits generally prohibits people allegedly molested by clergy decades ago from suing now, so many years later.
The ruling applied only to claims filed by 18 plaintiffs against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but lawyers for the church said they thought it set out a standard that will apply to most of the suits pending against church officials throughout the state.
"We think that the Superior Court got it right," said William Pietragallo II, a lawyer for the diocese of Pittsburgh, which faces more than 30 suits. "The statute of limitations is one of the fundamental tenets of Anglo-American jurisprudence, and the court has recognized that."
GREENWICH (CT)
Greenwich Time
By Hoa Nguyen
Staff Writer
March 17, 2005
The idea that surfaced earlier this month was such a good one that the attorney for the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp. wasted no time in presenting it at Tuesday's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
Instead of grappling with land-use issues that have plagued the diocese's plans to subdivide 32 acres it owns at 247 Stanwich Road, Tom Heagney, the diocese's Greenwich lawyer, said leave those issues for later.
"That we do not torture ourselves over whether this is an appropriate open space configuration," he said of the idea. "It gets beyond that."
All but one zoning commission member approved of the suggestion and gave the diocese's plans preliminary approval at the Town Hall meeting.
With the approval, the diocese can now seek final permission to split the land into two parcels, one to house St. Agnes Church and a second 25 acres that will be sold to Stanwich School or a developer of residential homes.
The proceeds of the sale would help the diocese finance settlement payments announced in 2003 to victims of sexual abuse by priests.
BOSTON (MA)
The Heights
By Heights Editorial Board
The Issue: Group seeks changes to Church governance
What we think: The timing is right
In this time of pain, struggle, and change in the Catholic Church, it is only appropriate for its congregants to come forth and discuss the need for the inclusion of lay people in the governance of the church.
Geoffrey T. Boisi, former chairman of the University's Board of Trustees, announced plans this week for the creation of a nonprofit organization that seeks to transform the nation's largest religion. There couldn't be a better time than now. The church has been plagued by a horrific sexual abuse scandal, low Mass attendance, a dip in financial support, and an inability to ordain a larger number of priests.
The group - theAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management (NLRCM) - would include people from all over the country, and would work toward administrative changes that would enable parishioners to have more of a say in the way their individual church and diocese operates.
As Boisi told The Heights, if we want the Catholic faith to prosper and reflect the will of its followers, "we must act with conviction, passion, and courage, but most of all we must act now."
COLUMBUS (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By Laura A. Bischoff
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Child-abuse victims who were molested as long as 35 years ago would have a chance to bring civil lawsuits against their attackers under a bill passed 31-0 by the Ohio Senate on Wednesday.
The bill also would extend the criminal statute of limitations from six years to 20 years — the same as rape — for sex crimes such as gross sexual imposition and voyeurism.
And it would require clerics and church leaders to report suspected or known child abuse or neglect involving other clergy to the proper authorities.
If the bill becomes law, child molesters could be brought to light, parents would be put on notice about dangerous people and victims could get their day in court, said state Sen. Bob Spada, R-North Royalton, who sponsored the legislation.
The bill is a response to the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal, he said.
"Children really have been let down by the systems that were supposed to protect them," he said.
The bill extends the statute of limitations to file civil claims of abuse. Now, victims have one year from their 18th birthday to file civil claims. The bill would extend that to 20 years. This part of the bill is not retroactive, and would apply only to abuse that happens after the bill becomes law.
SUPERIOR (WI)
Duluth News Tribune
Associated Press
SUPERIOR, Wis. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Superior says Bishop Raphael Fliss never helped cover up a priest's history of sexual abuse while serving as an administrator with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee three decades ago, as a recently filed lawsuit suggests.
The diocese issued a news release responding to the accusations in a lawsuit filed March 3 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court by two clergy abuse victims.
The lawsuit accused the Milwaukee Archdiocese of fraud and said Fliss helped with the coverup regarding the late Rev. Siegfried Widera. The male victims said that as minors they were abused dozens of times by the priest from 1973-76.
The abuse occurred after Widera had been convicted of sexual perversion with a teenager in 1973 and after the archdiocese transferred him to the St. Andrew's parish in Delavan from Port Washington without warning the public, the suit said.
BROWNSVILLE (TX)
Brownsville Herald
By LAURA B. MARTINEZ
The Brownsville Herald
March 17, 2005 — Evidence of sexual misconduct committed by a former Rio Grande Valley priest was the grounds for his dismissal from the Brownsville diocese but did not prevent him from celebrating Mass in Matamoros just last month.
The Monsignor Ivan M. Rovira was discharged from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville in 2002 by Bishop Raymundo J. Peña, after officials determined that the monsignor had been involved in sexual misconduct.
“We did discover evidence that these allegations were substantiated,” the Rev. Heberto M. Diaz Jr. said Wednesday at a news conference organized by the diocese. “So then he was removed from ministry immediately.”
Rovira’s dismissal means he can no longer celebrate or conduct a Catholic Mass in any country.
On Feb 23, he was present among hundreds of other priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville and the Diocese of Matamoros to celebrate Faustino Armendariz Jimenez’s installation as bishop of Matamoros.
RAPID CITY (SD)
Rapid City Journal
By Vicky Wicks, Journal Staff Writer
RAPID CITY — A jury found Isaac Swan not guilty late Wednesday on five counts of sexually assaulting a Rapid City girl.
Swan, the 31-year-old former church camp director, took the stand in his own defense earlier that day in 7th Circuit Court and said the allegations made against him were not true.
After verdict, both Swan and the prosecutor declined to comment. Swan still faces similar charges on 20 counts in Lawrence County.
Defense attorney Matt Stephens called his client and other witnesses to portray Swan as a loving father figure, a church leader and a truthful person.
BOSTON (MA)
Metro Pulse
• The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, in a cost-cutting move in the wake of its priest-sexual-abuse settlement, announced in 2004 that it would close several churches and schools, including Our Lady of the Presentation in the struggling neighborhood of Oak Square. Rather than sell the school to an eager community group at market price, the archdiocese is converting it into offices for processing marriage annulments. (Americans are granted 70 percent of all Catholic annulments, and the total has increased 90-fold since the 1960s.)
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Natasha Lee, Times Staff Writer
A Roman Catholic priest, formerly serving at a Koreatown church, was found guilty Wednesday of molesting three teenagers he met through parish functions between 2001 and 2004.
Father Fernando Lopez, 41, who was an associate pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle parish, was convicted of charges involving three males, ages 14, 16, and 19 at the time the incidents occurred, said prosecutor Darci Johnson of the Los Angeles County district attorney's Sex Crimes Division.
The incidents occurred mostly in church facilities and in cars.
Lopez was convicted of four counts of felony lewd acts with a child, one felony count of sexual battery by restraint, two misdemeanor counts of child molestation and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery.
Lopez, who is scheduled for sentencing on April 22, could face more than eight years combined in state prison and county jail, Johnson said.
ANNAPOLIS (MD)
Baltimore Sun
Originally published March 17, 2005
The Baltimore man who shot the now-defrocked priest who molested him as a child urged lawmakers yesterday to extend the statute of limitations for civil actions arising from sexual offenses against minors to 28 years, from seven years.
Because the law requires victims of childhood molestation to file claims within seven years after they turn 18, many victims are unable to receive relief for their suffering, 29-year-old Dontee Stokes told the House Judiciary Committee.
"Justice is something that we are seeking from you," Stokes testified in support of legislation proposed by Baltimore Democrat Curtis S. Anderson.
Anderson's legislation also would create a one-year open filing period, so all victims, regardless of age, can sue. His bill was one of several measures to aid victims of sexual crimes that the judiciary committee reviewed yesterday.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Daily Journal
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A Roman Catholic priest on temporary assignment from Rome was convicted Wednesday of molesting three boys from a Los Angeles parish during a three-year period that began shortly after his transfer in 2001.
A jury deliberated for one day before convicting Fernando Lopez, 41, of four felony counts of a lewd act with a child, one felony count of sexual battery by restraint, two misdemeanor counts of child molestation and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery.
Lopez, a Colombian citizen, was arrested in September 2004 after a 17-year-old boy from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Koreatown told his older brother, who volunteered at the parish, that Lopez had molested him at a Japanese restaurant and in the church basement.
Two other alleged victims came forward later: a 23-year-old man who said he was abused in 2001 and a 16-year-old boy who said Lopez began molesting him when he was 13.
ANNAPOLIS (MD)
TheWBALChannel.com
POSTED: 5:31 am EST March 17, 2005
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Dontee Stokes, the Baltimore man who shot a former priest after accusing him of sexual abuse, testified Wednesday in favor of legislation that would give victims more time to file civil lawsuits against their alleged abusers.
The bill extends the statute of limitations for victims who were abused before they turned 12. Such victims would be allowed to file suit until they turn 46. Current law allows suits only before those victims turn 25.
The bill, from Delegate Curt Anderson, D-Baltimore, also would open a one-time, one-year window for victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits stemming from long-ago episodes. The window would open Oct. 1, the date the bill would become law.
California and Illinois created such one-year windows, and Ohio is considering similar legislation.
"It could help many other pursue some sort of civil remedy. The (current) time limits, I feel, are unfair," Stokes said before he testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Monterey County Herald
By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Two experts on child sexual abuse testified Wednesday in a civil church-abuse case that the sight of young boys sitting on a priest's lap would not necessarily have raised suspicions during the 1970s.
A lawyer for the San Francisco Archdiocese presented four witnesses, including a retired FBI investigator and a retired San Francisco police officer, to describe for jurors an era that one expert called "innocent," long before the abusive behavior of priests became a national scandal.
Their testimony was intended to bolster claims by the archdiocese that it could not have suspected that one of its priests was a child molester. It is being sued by a man, now 47, who claims abuse dating back to the early 1970s.
Former FBI agent Gregg McCrary said that in the 1950s and 1960s, families were primarily concerned about "stranger danger," from shadowy figures lurking near playgrounds. In the 1970s and 1980s, he said, there was a growing awareness of family members who abuse children.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Toledo Blade
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS - Tears stained the face of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes as the Ohio Senate yesterday unanimously approved a bill that would briefly open the courthouse doors to alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy as long ago as 1970.
It was an emotional vote, but the courts may ultimately decide whether it was a constitutional vote. The bill faces a tougher time in the House.
The Senate voted to lengthen the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits involving child sexual abuse to 20 years. The clock would not start ticking until the victim reaches the age of 18, meaning litigation could remain a possibility until the age of 38.
The bill also opens a rare one-year "look back" window for prior child victims who claim they were victimized years ago but were locked out of the courthouse because they were not ready to face the issue by the time the current statute of limitations expired two years after they reached adulthood.
While the bill applies to all childhood sex abuse victims, the senators acknowledged they were largely talking about the Catholic church. Allegations of abuse by priests and subsequent cover-ups by the church have led to a flurry of lawsuits, out-of-court settlements, and public apologies from the pulpit.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee
By Jennifer Garza
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, March 17, 2005
SACRAMENTO - Mediation temporarily ended Wednesday between the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and attorneys for the 33 people who say they were sexually abused by clergy.
The settlement talks will resume May 4.
Both sides say a recess is typical at this stage of the mediation process so attorneys can evaluate proposals.
"Both sides need to talk to clients and come back prepared to talk some more," says Kevin Eckery, spokesperson for the diocese.
Joseph George, who is representing the plaintiffs in the settlement talks, agreed. "It's a complicated process that takes time."
Mediation in other dioceses has lasted for months. Some of the Sacramento cases may be settled while others head to a June 27 court date.
Most of the claims of clergy sexual abuse involve incidents that allegedly occurred decades ago. Sixteen of these cases are allegations against Mario Blanco, a priest who served at several Spanish-speaking parishes in the diocese in the early 1970s.
DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
10:01 PM CST on Wednesday, March 16, 2005
What a difference a river makes. On the north side of the Rio Grande, Catholic bishops like Brownsville's Raymundo Peña are pledged to remove credibly accused sex abusers from active ministry under the terms of the 2002 Dallas charter. That's why Monsignor Ivan Rovira lost his job running Brownsville's seminary that year after admitting to abusing Ruben Rocha, who says the priest raped him when Mr. Rocha was a teen.
Turns out that Monsignor Rovira ambled down the road, crossed the border to Matamoros and landed a job teaching at a Catholic university. He has been celebrating public Masses – and did so once in the presence of Bishop Peña. The Brownsville bishop maintains that he told his Matamoros counterpart "everything" about Monsignor Rovira. The Matamoros bishop denies it. One of them is lying.
Meanwhile, who's looking after the safety of Matamoros' children? Does Bishop Peña's moral responsibility to them stop at the river? The indifference is galling and calls to mind Kathleen McChesney's words as she left her post recently as head of the U.S. bishops' child protection office: "The crisis of sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church is not over."
If some Catholic bishops still don't get it, at least prosecutors like District Attorney Bill Hill do. His probe into the Dallas diocese's handling of sex abuse allegations is heating up.
One of Bishop Charles Grahmann's allies, cathedral rector the Rev. Ramon Alvarez, testified on Tuesday before a grand jury, reportedly over the child pornography arrest of his friend, the Rev. Matthew Bagert, who is also a staunch supporter of the bishop. Bishop Grahmann and former Dallas coadjutor Bishop Joseph Galante clashed over Bishop Grahmann's refusal to suspend Father Alvarez after the rector admitted to inappropriate contact with a man.
IRELAND
RTE News
15 March 2005 21:01
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has heard that the Sisters of Mercy do not accept some of the more serious allegations of mistreatment and abuse made by former residents of St Vincent's Industrial School at Goldenbridge in Dublin.
Provincial leader of the order, Sr Helena O'Donoghue, told the commission that the industrial school system had failed children and was harsh and inadequate.
However, she said it could not accept some of the more serious allegations of extreme physical punishment, starvation or mistreatment.
She said the order was deeply concerned that such allegations had been accepted by public opinion.
OHIO
The Advocate
By KENT MALLETT
Advocate Reporter
NEWARK -- Clergy would be required to report suspected sexual abuse according to a bill pending in the Ohio Senate.
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee was expected to vote today on the bill, which allows victims of child sexual abuse that happened as long ago as 1970 to sue alleged perpetrators under Ohio law. To become law, the bill must also pass the full Senate, which could consider it today.
The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Robert Spada, would require clergy and other church leaders to report abuse they suspect is being committed by other clergy or church leaders.
Rev. Joseph Leonard, president of the Licking County Ministerial Association and pastor of First Baptist Church of Newark, said the requirement could create some problems for clergy.
"It does begin to address issues of confidentiality within the clergy, which is a concern of mine," Leonard said. "They need to have a sense of confidentiality, but that doesn't mean you keep everything secret."
NEBRASKA
Seward County Independent
A congregational vote at St. John Lutheran Church in Seward March 6 resulted in one member being excommunicated.
Approximately 230 people voted on a motion to excommunicate Arlen Meyer, a former teacher at St. John Lutheran School who has been accused of sexual misconduct with students.
The congregation voted on a second motion that would have identified those who may have failed to act on knowledge of Meyer's alleged activities, and that motion did not pass.
Ray Huebschman, congregational chairman, would not comment to the Independent but described the vote as "a powerful moment" in a story published by the Lincoln Journal Star March 8.
PENNSYLVANIA
NEPA News
By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer, The Associated Press
March 16, 2005
Lawyers for Roman Catholic dioceses across the state said they intend to ask judges to dismiss dozens of lawsuits filed by people who allege that they were sexually abused by priests many years ago.
The move follows a ruling by a panel of Superior Court judges on Monday that Pennsylvania's two-year statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits generally prohibits people allegedly molested by clergy decades ago from suing now, so many years later.
The ruling applied only to claims filed by 18 plaintiffs against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, but lawyers for the church said they believed it set out a standard that will apply to most of the suits currently pending against church officials throughout the state.
"We think that the Superior Court got it right," said William Pietragallo II, a lawyer for the diocese of Pittsburgh, which faces more than 30 suits. "The statute of limitations is one of the fundamental tenets of Anglo-American jurisprudence, and the court has recognized that."
The Pittsburgh diocese filed a motion Tuesday asking an Allegheny Court judge to reconsider an earlier ruling that had allowed several sexual abuse lawsuits to go forward. That decision was based on reasoning that the Superior Court now appears to have rejected, Pietragallo said Wednesday.
CALIFORNIA
The Tidings
By Paula Doyle
Breaking through the pervasive silence about the existence of gay priests in the church will lead to a healthier community of faith, said a panel of Catholic leaders at the recent 2005 Religious Education Congress.
Speaking at a workshop on "Homosexuality, Celibacy and the Priesthood: Opening Up the Conversation," Dr. Tom Beaudoin, an assistant professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University, told a packed workshop audience that he believes almost everyone who has raised objections against gay priests has "very likely" learned something about God's love from a priest who has a homosexual orientation.
"For generations, gay men have served in the Catholic priesthood," said Beaudoin. "They have lived and are living holy lives, human lives, celibate lives; it's time to try to open up the conversation about that." Denying that the panelists were pushing any political agenda, Beaudoin said the workshop presented a "spiritual task" for participants to try to "be present to what is and receive it prayerfully."
He said talking in a "more adult way" about the blessings and challenges of gay priests similar to the way blessings and challenges of straight priests are discussed will allow Catholics to become "more human" and "more holy with each other…so that at long last our church in this regard can finally begin to deal with reality."
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Todd Ruger
A defrocked priest from the Catholic Diocese of Davenport is refusing to disclose his current address as part of a lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing boys decades ago.
At the same time, attorneys for the men accusing him of the abuse are refusing to tell James Janssen their share of a $9 million settlement with the diocese announced more than four months ago.
Arguments on those legal wranglings Wednesday before Iowa District Court Judge C.H. Pelton restarted court action since the October settlement in sexual abuse lawsuits filed against Janssen and other former diocesan priests.
The plaintiffs dismissed the diocese from the lawsuits in January as part of the settlement made with 36 men and one woman but are continuing legal action against the individual priests.
The priests — Janssen, who was removed from the priesthood by the pope, the Rev. Francis Bass, the Rev. William Wiebler, the late Rev. Theodore Geerts and Vicar General Monsignor Drake Shafer — have denied the accusations in court records.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Dateline Alabama
The Associated Press
March 16, 2005
A Roman Catholic priest on temporary assignment from Rome was convicted Wednesday of molesting three boys from a Los Angeles parish during a three-year period that began shortly after his transfer in 2001.
A jury deliberated for one day before convicting Fernando Lopez, 41, of four felony counts of a lewd act with a child, one felony count of sexual battery by restraint, two misdemeanor counts of child molestation and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery.
Lopez, a Colombian citizen, was arrested in September 2004 after a 17-year-old boy from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Koreatown told his older brother, who volunteered at the parish, that Lopez had molested him at a Japanese restaurant and in the church basement.
Two other alleged victims came forward later: a 23-year-old man who said he was abused in 2001 and a 16-year-old boy who said Lopez began molesting him when he was 13.
CINCINNATI (OH)
The Catholic Telegraph
By Tricia Hempel
ARCHDIOCESE -Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk placed three priests on administrative leave March 9 as a result of findings by the fund tribunal administering the $3 million Archdiocese Claim Resolution Compensation Fund.
The independent panel - made up of Cincinnati attorney Robert Stachler, Judge Thomas Nurre and retired judge and Xavier University professor Ann Marie Tracey - concluded that accusations that Stanley Doerger, Michael Paraniuk and David Vincent had sexually abused minors were plausible enough to warrant compensation to complainants.
According to a press release issued by the archdiocese March 8, "the archbishop's action is not to be taken as a presumption of guilt."
"The purpose of the fund tribunal is to compensate and reconcile with victims of sexual abuse, not to establish guilt or innocence of the accused. However, the findings by a panel of three such highly respected legal professionals gives the accusations the 'semblance of truth,' which is the point at which a priest is to be removed from ministry under U.S. church law, pending further investigation," the statement said.
BALTIMORE (MD)
WJZ
Mar 16, 2005 5:00 pm US/Eastern
(AP) Dontee Stokes, the Baltimore man who shot a former priest after accusing him of sexual abuse, testified Wednesday in favor of legislation that would give victims more time to file civil lawsuits against their alleged abusers.
The bill extends the statute of limitations for victims who were abused before they turned 12. Such victims would be allowed to file suit until they turn 46. Current law allows suits only before those victims turn 25.
The bill, from Delegate Curt Anderson, D-Baltimore, also would open a one-time, one-year window for victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits stemming from long-ago episodes. The window would open Oct. 1, the date the bill would become law.
California and Illinois created such one-year windows, and Ohio is considering similar legislation.
"It could help many other pursue some sort of civil remedy. The (current) time limits, I feel, are unfair," Stokes said before he testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
By Dan Sheehan
and Kathleen Parrish Of The Morning Call
Lawyers for alleged clergy abuse victims in the Catholic Diocese of Allentown and elsewhere have vowed to pursue lawsuits despite a Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling that says the statute of limitations trumps victims' rights to sue church leadership.
Observers say plaintiffs might not be able to overcome the Monday ruling that rejected a novel legal strategy to overcome the statute. The ruling sets a legal precedent and might lead to the dismissal of suits in Lehigh County and elsewhere in Pennsylvania.
Eighteen plaintiffs from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia essentially had argued that the clock on the statute of limitations should be reset to 2002, when the Catholic Church acknowledged child abuse by some members of the clergy and the hierarchy's failure to prevent it.
Until that acknowledgment, victims of the long-ago abuse had no way of knowing how complicit church leaders had been, the lawyers argued. So, despite the statute of limitations, they should be able to pursue suits against the leaders today.
In the archdiocese case, the abuses allegedly occurred from the late 1950s to the '80s. The victims filed their suits in the first half of 2004.
NASHVILLE (TN)
The Tennessean
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer
Two men who say they were molested by a former priest were dealt a setback yesterday in their $68 million lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Nashville when a judge ruled they were not entitled to information about pedophile priests other than their abuser.
The plaintiffs, who are known in court papers only as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, were hoping to show a pattern of abuse by priests and recklessness on the part of church officials. A lawyer for the church called the request a ''witch hunt.''
But Davidson County Circuit Judge Walter Kurtz ruled that the plaintiffs would be limited to information maintained by the diocese about former Nashville priest Edward McKeown, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for abusing one of the victims.
The decision was protested sharply by one of the plaintiff's attorneys, who complained that the ruling greatly restricted the victims' case.
''The problem is how they handled other pedophiles is probative of their recklessness,'' lawyer John Day told the judge.
McKeown, a longtime priest in Nashville, was forced to leave the priesthood in 1989, after he admitted molesting several boys.
ARLINGTON (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Mark Agee
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
ARLINGTON - Agape Christian Fellowship's board of directors placed Bishop Terry Hornbuckle on indefinite administrative leave Tuesday night and named his wife interim senior pastor.
Hornbuckle, 43, was arrested Friday and charged with sexually assaulting three former parishioners. Investigators also charged him with possession of a controlled substance after saying they found methamphetamines in his vehicle during the arrest.
Hornbuckle was released from Tarrant County Jail on Monday on $405,000 bail and is being monitored electronically by authorities.
Handing the bishop's duties over to Renee Hornbuckle will allow Terry Hornbuckle more time to focus on personal and legal matters, according to a brief church statement released Tuesday through a public relations firm.
An attorney representing the three accusers in a civil trial said that two other women have come forward saying that Hornbuckle assaulted them.
HOLLIDAYSBURG (PA)
Altoona Mirror
By Phil Ray
HOLLIDAYSBURG - The Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese plans to seek dismissal of 14 priest sex abuse cases filed in the past year after the state Superior Court this week upheld a two-year statute of limitations in similar lawsuits.
Altoona Attorney Richard Serbin may have been stunned by the decision, but he said Tuesday that he is far from giving up his fight. Serbin estimates that he has filed more than 100 lawsuits in Pennsylvania.
Serbin has been involved with priest sex abuse cases for almost two decades. Last year, he settled a series of cases in Blair County for more than $3 million. He also won a $1.5 million verdict in 1994 against the diocese.
BELLINGHAM (MA)
Woonsocket Call
Call Staff 03/16/2005
BELLINGHAM -- The Rev. Paul M. Desilets, 81, has taken another step to fight extradition from Canada, according to Worcester County District Attorney John Conte.
Desilets faces a Worcester County grand jury indictment alleging he sexually assaulted altar boys at Assumption Parish during his tenure there between 1974 and 1984.
The retired priest had until the end of last week to decide if he would seek Canadian Supreme Court review of a lower Court of Appeals ruling upholding his extradition.
Conte was still awaiting official word about Desilets’ further appeal and issued no additional information on the matter Tuesday.
The May 2002 indictment against Desilets charged him with 16 counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, 10 counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, and six counts of assault and battery. These are all alleged to have occurred during his service as a parish priest at Assumption, according to Conte’s office.
IOWA
Globe Gazette
By LARRY KRAMER, Byron, Minn.
I am a victim of sexual abuse by a priest.
Since hearing that Robert Riess, my abuser, was murdered in Mexico in February, I realized the Catholic Church isn't doing all it can do to stop the abuse.
So knowing I can no longer sit by and let our children continue to be hurt, I sat down and developed a new approach to force the church to change.
My theory is based off running a business. In any business, the only time they make major changes in the way they do business is when they are spending more than they are taking in. This is when they stop and take a careful look at why they are not profitable.
So the same would apply to the Catholic Church. If it is spending more money on sexual abuse cases than the church supporters are bringing in, it will force the hierarchy to take a close look into the "why."
My basic new approach is this: Church members need to withhold money from the church until the hierarchy takes a close look at "why."
EDINBURG (TX)
The Monitor
March 16,2005
Brittney Booth
The Monitor
EDINBURG — Former Trinity Worship Center music minister Robert Dale Franklin pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old church member.
Franklin, 38, entered his guilty plea before noon, halting the jury selection and trial set to begin in Judge Mario Ramirez’s 332nd state District Court.
By pleading guilty to the two second-degree felonies, Franklin avoided 10 additional felony charges that a grand jury indicted him of last year that included delivery of a controlled substance to a minor, indecency with a child and of delivery of marijuana to a minor.
Each count carries a maximum of 20 years in jail. Prosecutors filed a motion last week requesting that if the jury found Franklin guilty, he would serve the sentences back to back, instead of at the same time.
GREECE
Kathimerini
Greek authorities are hot on the trail of a fugitive drug dealer at the heart of the corruption scandal bedeviling the Church of Greece, judiciary sources indicated yesterday.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the matter was discussed yesterday during a meeting between Supreme Court prosecutor Dimitris Linos and the chief Athens Court of First Instance prosecutor, Dimitris Papangelopoulos.
After seeking Apostolos Vavilis — who, despite his drug convictions, was sent as an envoy by Archbishop Christodoulos to oversee the election of a new patriarch of Jerusalem in 2001, and is believed to have maintained close relations with Greek and foreign intelligence services — in Greece without success, officials now believe the fugitive is in a nearby European country, possibly Italy.
Sources close to the investigation believe Vavilis may turn himself in the next few days — although similar speculation last month proved to be little more than wishful thinking.
Vavilis’s shady dealings with the Church emerged in the course of a spate of allegations of corruption, including involvement in trial fixing, and homosexuality among prominent clerics.
UNITED STATES
USA Today
Secrecy can kill, as Americans found out during the summer of 2000.
For weeks, the news media were filled with stories of disastrous car wrecks and deaths in the 1990s that were linked to some Firestone tires. The company recalled 6.5 million tires — too late for the more than 200 people killed and the hundreds injured.
They may have died needlessly. Information about possible safety defects had been locked in lawyers' files for years. Scores of victims had sued Bridgestone/Firestone, and the tiremaker had settled — but the terms were secret. Documents were suppressed at the company's insistence, and lawyers couldn't discuss them. ...
Among the dangers hidden:
•Abusive priests Catholic priests who sexually abused children were concealed for decades with the help of courts. The Catholic Church settled victims' lawsuits secretly and insisted on orders to seal documents. Today, some courts are still protecting church secrets. In 2003, a Connecticut appeals court ruled that the court files in 23 sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against the Diocese of Bridgeport should remain under wraps.
The Dallas Morning News
10:31 PM CST on Tuesday, March 15, 2005
By BRENDAN M. CASE, BROOKS EGERTON and REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News
U.S. Catholic leaders say they've been doing everything possible to protect children since adopting a "one-strike-and-you're-out-of-ministry" abuse policy in 2002. Yet some are helping their fallen priests start over abroad. And some aren't asking the Vatican to defrock these men – the only thing that would prevent foreign bishops from employing them.
The U.S. church's sex-abuse reforms prevented the Rev. Manuel Fernández from keeping his high-profile job at the cathedral in Trenton, N.J., and running the diocese's ethnic ministries program. But they didn't stop him from relocating to his native Spain and leading a parish.
He remains a member of the Trenton Diocese. Officials there won't discuss his continued ministry or whether they told the Spanish church about allegations he had inappropriately touched a teenage girl decades ago. Those complaints had led to his 2002 removal.
PHILIPPINES
The Dallas Morning News
10:31 PM CST on Tuesday, March 15, 2005
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
CEBU, Philippines – Here in the cradle of Asia's lone Catholic stronghold, the Rev. Cristobal Garcia is one of the most prominent faces of the church.
It's a far cry from his despair of 20 years ago, when the Dominican religious order expelled him after a nun told police that an altar boy had been found in his bed in a Los Angeles rectory. The priest fled to his hometown Cebu Archdiocese – which, despite a warning from the Dominicans, put him to work anyway, with children, and persuaded the Vatican to honor him with the title "monsignor."
Respected leader
Cebu Cardinal Ricardo Vidal also has allowed Monsignor Garcia to form a monastic religious society, whose young male recruits call him their "supreme motivator." The Society of the Angel of Peace is based in a village outside Cebu, where the priest also oversees a chapel, a children's Sunday school program and a squad of altar boys.
"I don't think they [Filipino Catholic leaders] have the same standards or concerns we do," said lawyer Lynne Goodwin, who defended the Dominicans in a 1988 lawsuit filed by one of Monsignor Garcia's former altar boys. "I don't think there's any consequence for bad action."
Cardinal Vidal is not available for interviews, aides said. He has not responded to written questions.
PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
The Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese will ask an Allegheny County judge to dismiss 35 lawsuits alleging abuse by its priests, citing a state appeals court ruling that plaintiffs in other suits waited too long to file their complaints.
A three-judge panel of the state Superior Court ruled Monday that alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia waited too long to file their lawsuits. The archdiocese was protected by Pennsylvania's statute of limitations, which typically requires lawsuits be filed within two years, the decision states.
The Superior Court's ruling confirms "that the church is entitled to the same justice and the same rule of law as any other entity in Pennsylvania," the Pittsburgh Diocese said in a statement.
The dioceses in Greensburg and Altoona-Johnstown also will seek to have suits against them dismissed, officials there said.
PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Craig Smith
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
An attorney representing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg in a clergy sexual abuse case said he'll ask a judge to dismiss the lawsuit in light of a Pennsylvania Superior Court decision.
Attorney Eric Anderson, representing the diocese, said he'll file a motion to dismiss the case, which was brought against the diocese by Terrance J. Zawacki, based on the ruling by three Superior Court judges.
"It's a sweeping decision that will have significant impact," he said.
Zawacki, 53, alleges that he was abused about 43 years ago by a priest who died in 1991. The case is pending before Westmoreland County Judge Daniel Ackerman.
The appeals court judges, in tossing out 18 cases against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Tuesday, said that under Pennsylvania law, claims for intentional conduct, negligence and conduct based in fraud are subject to a two-year statute of limitations.
That ruling, attorneys said, becomes the law of the land, pending an appeal.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On the heels of an appellate court ruling that the statute of limitations bars lawsuits from those molested long ago by Catholic priests in Philadelphia, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is asking Allegheny County Common Pleas Court to dismiss identical cases here.
The lawsuits are not against the priests, some of whom are long dead. Instead they are against the diocese, claiming that bishops conspired to cover up abuse and that the victims only recently learned of the conspiracy.
A three-judge panel of the state Superior Court said Monday that even if officials of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia were guilty of "inexcusable conduct," the statute of limitations protected them from lawsuits filed long afterward.
One of the Philadelphia cases dated back to 1957, and the most recent case of alleged abuse to 1983. In Pittsburgh, accusations against 18 priests involve abuse allegations stretching from the 1950s through 1994.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Robert Goodrich
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/15/2005
Bishop Edward K. Braxton slipped into Belleville Tuesday to meet with Catholics from the 28 Southern Illinois counties he will serve, but said he doesn't expect to be formally installed until early June.
Braxton, 60, has been bishop of the Lake Charles Diocese in Louisiana for the past four years. He will replace the Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory, installed two months ago as archbishop of Atlanta.
At a news conference Tuesday at the chancery office in Belleville, Braxton said he was surprised at his selection but eager to return to Illinois and the St. Louis area. ...
He was asked about sexual abuse by priests. Braxton said none was alleged during his episcopate in Lake Charles but that he had set up procedures to handle accusations should they arise - before a procedure was addressed at a bishops' meeting in Dallas in 2002.
Braxton said he would happily meet with victims. "Bishop Gregory certainly responded to those allegations," Braxton said. "We must be vigilant and aggressive."
Depending on the circumstances, he said, he might meet with people from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
10:52 PM PST on Tuesday, March 15, 2005
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
A national self-help group for victims of clergy sexual abuse is demanding Bishop Gerald R. Barnes reprimand and publicly condemn an Inland priest for filing a slander lawsuit against a man who claims the cleric molested him two decades ago.
In a letter faxed Tuesday to the Diocese of San Bernardino, Jaime Romo and Mary Grant of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, described the slander lawsuit filed last month by the Rev. Michael Bucaro as "vicious and un-Christian legal hardball tactics."
"This litigation, we believe, is intimidating and vengeful," the letter states. "It also directly contradicts what you and so many church leaders have repeatedly stressed: that you want victims to come forward and disclose their abuse. These hostile acts will scare victims into continued shame, self-blame and silence."
Bucaro's attorney, Lori Hershorin, argued that the clergyman has the right to defend himself against the damaging accusations, which he vehemently denies.
"SNAP has been misguided and misinformed about Father Bucaro," Hershorin said. "Father Bucaro's reputation has been tarnished by these false allegations, and he wants to clear his name. How else can he do that unless he fights back?"
GARY (IN)
Indianapolis Star
March 16, 2005
Gary -- Florida authorities have decided not to seek criminal charges against a Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Gary who was accused of molesting a Florida teenager more than a decade ago.
Orlando Police Detective Jonathan O'Hern said Monday the allegations against the Rev. Richard Emerson were investigated thoroughly but that the elapsed time, combined with the state and federal laws involved, blocked the filing of charges.
Emerson's attorney has denied the allegations against the priest. In December, Gary Bishop Dale Melczek suspended Emerson, 52, from his position at Notre Dame Church near Michigan City.
In January, the accuser filed a lawsuit against the dioceses of Gary and Orlando, claiming Emerson repeatedly molested him from the time he was 11 in 1986 until he was nearly 18.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
San Bernardino County Sun|
By Brad A. Greenberg, Staff Writer
A national support group for people abused by priests criticized Bishop Gerald R. Barnes on Tuesday for his handling of sexual-abuse claims against priests in the Diocese of San Bernardino.
The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests asked Barnes to punish The Rev. Michael Bucaro, who in January filed a slander suit against a 25-year-old man who claims Bucaro molested him as a boy.
"We urge you to publicly denounce Bucaro's vicious and un-Christian legal hard ball tactics and discipline him,' the group, commonly known as SNAP, wrote in a letter signed by its San Diego and western regional directors.
"We also implore you to go to every parish where he was assigned and apologize for the harmful impact of your inaction and silence confronting Bucaro's inexcusable behavior.'
The diocese's response was brief.
"Our only comment regarding SNAP correspondence is that our diocese remains absolutely committed to doing everything we can to provide a safe environment for all parishioners, most especially children, and to promote healing for victims of sexual abuse and their families,' said spokesman The Rev. Howard Lincoln. "In the end, it is our hope that justice and fairness will prevail.'
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Daily News
By KITTY CAPARELLA
caparek@phillynews.com
Will the victims of sexual abuse by priests ever find justice in the criminal or civil courts?
That's a question some people were asking after a three-judge state appellate panel on Monday turned down 18 sexual abuse victims seeking to sue the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in civil court for harboring Catholic priests and one nun who allegedly abused them as children.
While the panel's decision was not unexpected, it was still a blow to victims.
"Absolutely devastating," reacted John Salveson, head of the local Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests.
"The message is 'You can rape kids and protect your rapist and as long as you slip past the statute of limitations, everything is cool,' " he added.
"The number one priority has to be changing the statute of limitations" in Pennsylvania, said Salveson, a Bryn Mawr businessman who says he was molested as a boy by a priest.
CALIFORNIA
Mercury News
By Robin Evans
Mercury News
In the first day of testimony in a trial alleging church negligence regarding sexual abuse by a San Jose pastor in the 1970s, attorneys for a former Catholic school student who says he was molested tried to show that church officials may have or should have known beforehand the priest was acting inappropriately with the boys in his parish.
At least two priests witnessed boys sitting on the Rev. Joseph Pritchard's lap in his private rooms at St. Martin of Tours, and one of the alleged victims said a priest who walked in while he was being molested may have seen evidence of it, according to plaintiffs' attorney Larry Drivon.
Lawyers for the church conceded abuse probably took place but said neither the priests, other adults in the parish nor the San Francisco archbishop, who oversaw the San Jose region at the time, had any idea Pritchard was doing anything wrong. They also promised testimony from law enforcement about what child abuse experts at the time would have thought about a child sitting on a priest's lap.
``What we know now is that, unfortunately, Pritchard took advantage of his position as pastor -- shamefully, illegally, wrongly in every way,'' said archdiocese attorney Jim Goodman. ``The parish was completely aware that kids were coming and going from his room.
MEXICO
The Dallas Morning News
10:35 PM CST on Tuesday, March 15, 2005
By BROOKS EGERTON and BRENDAN M. CASE / The Dallas Morning News
MATAMOROS, Mexico – When Monsignor Ivan Rovira was accused of rape in 2002, he didn't have to go far to dodge U.S. Catholic bishops' sex-abuse reforms.
Monsignor Rovira also continued to lead worship services regularly, despite Brownsville officials' assurances that he had been barred from public ministry. Last month, with Brownsville Bishop Raymundo Peña watching, he was among many priests celebrating Mass as Matamoros' new bishop was installed.
"I guess the Catholic Church is not universal," said Josie Rocha, two of whose sons have accused Monsignor Rovira. "We have a different set of rules just by jumping a river."
U.S. bishops say that since adopting a one-strike-and-you're-out-of-ministry rule in 2002, they have been doing everything possible to protect children and to promote victims' healing.
The policy permanently bars from ministry all priests confirmed to have ever sexually abused a minor. But it does not apply abroad, where many bishops consider the rule too harsh, and it does not apply to nonministerial jobs.
Only the Vatican can prevent foreign bishops from employing abusers – by removing them from the priesthood. U.S. church officials, however, don't always petition to have them expelled. And the Vatican can refuse a petition for various reasons, including the age of the case or a lack of cooperation by the abuser.
DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
08:42 PM CST on Tuesday, March 15, 2005
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
Two prominent representatives of the Dallas Catholic Diocese appeared under subpoena before a grand jury Tuesday, one of the diocese's lawyers said.
But courthouse sources and others said more may be at stake. They suggested that the secret proceeding, which lasted more than three hours, was part of the district attorney's broader criminal investigation of how area Catholic officials handle sexual misconduct allegations.
One of the subpoena targets – the Rev. Ramon Alvarez, the Dallas cathedral's head pastor – has no apparent connection to the Grand Prairie church where the Rev. Matthew Bagert was arrested.
Father Alvarez is, however, a longtime close associate of Father Bagert's, who is free on bail and suspended from duty. Police said the two were out of town together for about two days immediately before the arrest. ...
One new tool prosecutors are using is a Web site – www .victimpower.org – that allows people to report tips anonymously to authorities around the country. The program, unlike anonymous phone calls, provides for continuing communication that can be necessary to verify information.
Members of a Catholic family in Massachusetts started the site, saying that they wanted to do something to combat abuse in their church. Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill has embraced the idea, VictimPower legal adviser Stephen Galebach said.
ARLINGTON (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
03:11 PM CST on Monday, March 14, 2005
By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON – Members of Agape Christian Fellowship should remain strong and united during "an hour of distress" as their pastor faces sexual assault charges, a church leader said Sunday.
Agape officials planned to meet Sunday and today to discuss the accusations, Bishop Harold Ray told hundreds of churchgoers at a Sunday morning service.
"We've got some critical days ahead," said Bishop Ray, who traveled from Florida for the service. He encouraged churchgoers not to be "occupied with rumor and innuendo."
ARLINGTON (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
09:04 PM CST on Monday, March 14, 2005
By DEBRA DENNIS, KATHRYN YEGGE and JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
An Arlington pastor charged with sexually assaulting three women posted bail Monday but must wear an ankle monitor and abide by other conditions to stay out of jail.
The release of Terry L. Hornbuckle, 43, of Grapevine from the Tarrant County Jail was delayed because of a drug charge added to the case against him. When he was arrested last week, police said they found between 1 and 4 grams of methamphetamine in his car. That third-degree felony charge added $5,000 to Mr. Hornbuckle's bail of $400,000.
Mr. Hornbuckle was arrested and indicted Friday on charges that he sexually assaulted three young female members of Agape Christian Fellowship Church between July 2003 and October 2004.
As a condition of his release, state District Judge James Wilson ordered Mr. Hornbuckle on Monday to report to a Tarrant County probation officer. He is prohibited from contacting the three women, using alcohol or drugs and possessing a firearm.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A Brea youth pastor pleaded not guilty Monday to sending child pornography to an undercover FBI agent.
Jeff DeVore, 53, of Fullerton has been suspended from his post as an ordained volunteer assistant minister at the United Church of Christ. He has been charged with distributing pornography, allegedly to an agent involved in a sting operation that targeted men suspected of seeking to travel to Mexico for sex with boys.
NEW YORK
WHEC
NEWS 10NBC has learned new information about a local priest who admits to downloading child pornography on his church computer. Father Michael Volino is currently under house arrest. He's accused of receiving and possessing child porn from May of 2004 until his computer was seized in January. On Tuesday NEWS 10NBC learned that Volino spent time with a local Boy Scout troop and that he got a warning from the local diocese.
There are no allegations that Father Volino ever sexually assaulted a child and the leader of the local boy scout council tells NEWS 10NBC that while Father Volino did have close contact with a Boy Scout Troop, there have been no complaints that he did anything wrong. “We try to be very proactive in making sure youngsters are safe,” said Larry Pritchard, Monroe County Boy Scout Troops Executive Scout.
Pritchard was told about Father Volino's connection to the Boy Scouts the day Volino was arrested. “We did some homework and he's never been a registered leader with us, but apparently he was involved with a Scout Troop as a participant for some time.”
IRELAND
RTE News
15 March 2005 21:01
The Bishop of Cork and Ross has said that over the past five years the diocese has contributed around €500,000 to a trust which pays compensation to victims of clerical sex abuse.
Dr John Buckley was addressing priests of the diocese at meetings in Cork.
The bishops' conference, which is holding its spring meeting in Maynooth this week, is discussing the Bishops' Stewardship Trust.
This is a fund to which all dioceses have to contribute for compensation for victims of sexual abuse by diocesan priests, and for the funding of the bishops' child protection services.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A group of U.S. Catholic bishops and lay church and business leaders March 14 announced formation of aAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management.
Its goal is to help Catholic dioceses and parishes improve administrative practices and financial and human resource management as the church confronts clergy shortages and the challenges of training effective lay leadership.
At a press conference in Washington the group also issued an 80-page "Report of the Church in America," reporting the proceedings and recommendations of last July's national leadership round table at Wharton, the prestigious business school of the University of Pennsylvania.
That session was a two-day meeting of lay and church leaders from diverse perspectives who came together in Philadelphia to analyze how church leadership can respond more effectively to leadership problems that surfaced in the clergy sexual abuse crises and, more broadly, to the rapidly changing realities in American Catholicism.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
National
By JASON BERRY
Los Angeles
Since June 2002, when the scandal-plagued Catholic bishops met in Dallas to adopt a youth protection charter, Cardinal Roger Mahony has cast himself as a reformer, an image that is jarring to many people immersed in the legal saga here in which the archdiocese has waged a fierce battle to keep sensitive documents secret.
“If priests are indicted and some end up in prison or whatever, that’s going to be very sad for them, for the church,” Mahony told the Los Angeles Times in the weeks following that 2002 meeting. “But if that is required to move beyond, that’s what we’re going to have to go through.”
Two and a half years later, amid the slow grind of court proceedings, Mahony spoke of his own “terrible journey” in a Feb. 12 telephone interview with NCR. “It’s easy to look back through lenses of today to 15, 20, 30 years ago. You just wish you had known then what I know now” about the way sexual offenders behave.
“I’ve met a very large number of victims,” he continued. “I’ve also looked at the taped interviews [of victims] the plaintiff attorneys here have developed. Dozens of interviews on DVD. I’ve listened to those, every single one of them. They just cause you to cry. You simply are in disbelief at what has happened to the lives of these people. It has been a very humbling experience. Spiritually, I was absolutely at the bottom, which means total vulnerability to God’s grace. And I began to realize that this is the ministry Jesus Christ is asking of me and others at this time, to repair the damage, to make sure it won’t happen again.”
GARY (IN)
Sun-Sentinel
The Associated Press
Posted March 15 2005, 5:37 PM EST
GARY, Ind. -- Florida authorities have decided not to seek criminal charges against a Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Gary accused of molesting a Florida teenager more than a decade ago.
Orlando police Detective Jonathan O'Hern said Monday the allegations against the Rev. Richard Emerson were investigated thoroughly, but that a combination of the time that has passed and the state and federal laws involved blocked the filing of charges.
Emerson's attorney has denied the allegations. The allegations caused Bishop Dale Melczek in December to suspend Emerson, 52, from his position at Notre Dame Church near Michigan City.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Reuters
By Ed Kaufman
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Written by Bronx-born John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt" (a West Coast premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse) is compelling, absorbing and as current as yesterday's headlines as it attempts to deal with the nature of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
The story takes place at St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx, 1964. Credit Gary L. Wissmann for the two rotating sets: the office of the principal and a garden courtyard in the parish. Alex Jaeger's costumes are fitting while Claudia Weill's direction is expert and savvy.
As first we see Father Flynn, the engaging, warm-hearted and idealistic young priest (a commanding performance by Jonathan Cake), at the pulpit preaching about doubt as a necessity if we (or the Church) is to grow. Doubt isn't weakness; doubt brings about change which, Flynn argues, is vital and beneficial.
When the scene changes, we are in the office of Sister Aloysius (the wonderful Linda Hunt), the elderly, cryptic, suspicious, calculating and tough-as-nails principal of St. Nicholas. She runs the school with a firm hand and is suspicious of Flynn's notion about "going out in the community and making believe that you are just one of the other folks."
COLUMBUS (OH)
Beacon Journal
ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Victims of child sexual abuse that happened as long ago as 1970 could sue the alleged perpetrators under a bill the Senate was expected to approve Wednesday.
The lawsuits could come even though the deadlines under law for reporting such abuse passed years or decades ago, according to the new version of the bill to be voted on Wednesday by the GOP-controlled Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
A vote by the full Senate was expected to follow later in the day.
Victims would have one year to file such a claim after the law takes effect or two years if the victim currently has a case in court.
The bill would also dramatically extend the deadline for filing abuse claims in the future.
Under current law, victims have one year after turning 18 to file claims against an alleged abuser and two years to file a claim against an institution that may have contributed to the abuse, such as a church or school.
CALIFORNIA
Union-Tribune
By Kim Curtis
ASSOCIATED PRESS
4:44 p.m. March 15, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO – At least two priests at a San Jose parish saw young boys visiting the room of another priest now accused of molestation, and one caught the priest with boys sitting on his lap, a lawyer told jurors Tuesday at the start of a civil sexual abuse trial.
Attorney Larry Drivon, who represents victim Dennis Kavanaugh, 47, said the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard was seen numerous times with young boys in his room during the early 1970s. But those activities were never reported, he said during the first day of testimony in Kavanaugh's lawsuit against the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Jurors saw parts of a videotaped deposition by the Rev. William Leininger, a now-retired priest who lived at St. Martin of Tours when the abuse occurred. Leininger acknowledged he saw "lots of boys" go into Pritchard's room but thought they were watching television or playing games.
"It was unusual activity, but we didn't think anything of it," Leininger said on the tape. "That's just the way things were."
Kavanaugh's is the first of more than 750 civil lawsuits against California dioceses to go to trial since the state temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for filing sex-abuse claims in 2002.
BRITAIN
BBC News
A 34-year-old man became mentally ill after a catalogue of "horrendous" abuse at the hands of his parish priest in Coventry, the High Court has been told.
The man, known as "A", is suing the Archbishop of Birmingham in his role as head of the Church in the area.
A's barrister said Father Christopher Clonan sexually abused his client for 10 years when the priest worked at Christ the King Church in Coundon.
Fr Clonan died in Australia in 1998 while on the run from British police.
Robert Seabrook QC said A was molested by Fr Clonan between 1978 and 1988, after the priest had ingratiated himself with his client's devout Roman Catholic family.
BRITAIN
Scotsman
By Jan Colley, PA
A man whose psychiatric illness was caused by prolonged and horrific sexual abuse by his trusted parish priest launched a High Court damages action today.
The 34-year-old, one of seven children from a devout and successful Catholic family, suffers from both schizophrenia and post traumatic stress disorder and is unable to work.
Only identified as A for legal reasons, he is one of a number of individuals who allegedly suffered at the hands of Father Christopher Clonan, who served at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Coundon, Coventry for 20 years.
He left his post of assistant parish priest in July 1992 and fled to Australia, where he died of natural causes in 1998.
In January last year, former altar boy Simon Grey received a £330,000 out-of-court settlement from the Archdiocese of Birmingham over similar claims.
Today, Robert Seabrook QC, who also represented Mr Grey, told Mr Justice Christopher Clarke in London that A sought compensation for the “most horrific sexual abuse” over a 10-year period between the ages of eight and 18.
TAMPA (FL)
Tampa Tribune
By THOMAS W. KRAUSE tkrause@tampatrib.com
Published: Mar 15, 2005
TAMPA - Mary Help of Christians School is facing its fourth lawsuit filed since 2002 alleging young male students were molested by clergy members who taught there.
A Miami man filed the most recent suit Friday, alleging sexual misconduct by former principal Father Kevin O'Brien.
Richard Peterson Jr., who attended the school from 1976 until 1979, says the abuse took place in the principal's office during the last two years he attended classes at the Catholic school on Chelsea Street.
O'Brien, Peterson says, told him the molestation was a form of punishment for misbehaving in school. The priest said he had permission from the boy's parents and from the Catholic church to administer discipline however he pleased, according to the suit.
School officials referred comment to the Salesians of Don Bosco, the New York- based Catholic order that runs the school.
Father Jim Heuser, Salesian provincial for the eastern United States, said he could not comment directly on the lawsuit, but said the order has made apologies to youths who were victimized while under Salesian care.
BRITAIN
ic Coventry
Mar 15 2005
A Coventry man who as a child was groomed and sexually abused by a priest is today launching a record claim for damages against the Catholic Church.
The victim, now aged 34, is suing for at least £1million in damages and costs for the years of abuse he suffered at the hands of Fr Christopher Clonan.
GREECE
Kathimerini
As former president Costis Stephanopoulos enjoyed his first day out of office with a 16-kilometer bike ride at his holiday home on Sunday, his successor, Karolos Papoulias, held his first meetings in the Presidential Palace in Athens.
Papoulias, 76, who was sworn in on Saturday as Greece’s sixth president since the fall of the military junta in 1974, met with close associates at his new office ahead of his first official duties, which are set to begin toward the end of this week. Meanwhile, Stephanopoulos, 79, retired to his holiday home in Rio, near his native Patras. ...
Political controversy threatened to overshadow the swearing-in ceremony as MPs from the Synaspismos Left Coalition staged a walkout in protest over the fact that Papoulias was taking his oath before Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Church of Greece — as is traditional. Theodoros Koliopanos, a PASOK deputy, refused to attend the ceremony in protest at the Church’s role. The remaining Socialist MPs demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the recent Church scandals by refusing to stand when the archbishop entered the debating chamber with members of the Holy Synod.
NATICK (MA)
MetroWest Daily News
By Mary Kate Dubuss / Daily News Staff
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
NATICK -- Natick Parish Voice knows it is going to take a lot to make meaningful changes in the Catholic Church, and, its members say, hope is just as important as more practical methods.
Even last night, when the group was confronted with frank talk about the Boston Archdiocese's impenetrable hierarchy, its members said they have not given up the idea that the ordinary Catholic can become a bigger part of the religion's leadership.
During the panel discussion commemorating Natick Parish Voice's third anniversary, about 60 Catholics from local parishes met at Morse Institute Library to keep their reform-oriented goals in mind.
Natick Parish Voice wants the Catholic clergy to be accountable and able to communicate with the laity, but the priests on hand at the forum said such a reality is a long way off.
"I don't think the Bishop (Sean O'Malley) plans to make any changes," said the Rev. Walter Cuenin. "With reconfiguartion, (the archdiocese had) no willingness to look at different models. It says to me, we're not planning changes."
Cuenin, the pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton, relayed news from the frontlines. Saying the priesthood has been "demoralized," he offered a dose of reality.
"The priesthood is pretty broken. ... It takes two to tango, but you can't get contact" with the archdiocese, he said.
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O'Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer
The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled yesterday that 18 adults had waited too long to sue the Archdiocese of Philadelphia over alleged sexual abuse by priests, spurning rulings in some counties that had kept the door open to such suits.
The three-judge panel ruled unanimously that even though the alleged abuse was "inexcusable," Pennsylvania's time limit on filing suits trumped any argument that the church had unlawfully interfered with the victims' timely reporting of their abuse.
The ruling appears to scuttle virtually all the abuse suits on file against the archdiocese. If upheld, it also could protect other dioceses in Pennsylvania from embarrassing disclosures of misconduct and financially crushing judgments or settlements.
C. Clark Hodgson Jr., who represented the archdiocese in arguments before the court last month, said he believed the ruling effectively blocked such suits against dioceses across the state.
DUBUQUE (IA)
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
March 15, 2005
Victims advocates on Monday increased pressure on Dubuque's Catholic archbishop to disclose the names of priests accused of abuse in the wake of another new priest-abuse lawsuit.
On Friday, a Dubuque woman identified as Jane Doe sued the archdiocese alleging she was raped as a 12-year-old student of Sacred Heart School in Dubuque by a priest who instructed her in the confessional to meet him in the school's basement. Once there, the Rev. John A. Schmitz raped her, the lawsuit alleges.
The alleged assault occurred in 1959. Schmitz died in 1991. The lawsuit states that the diocese knew of the assault within about a year because the girl told another priest in confession.
That priest took her to the archdiocese offices, where she repeated the account. When confronted with the information, Schmitz reportedly confessed, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement Monday, Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus said Schmitz was assigned to nine parishes from 1957 until 1982, when people from his last parish, St. Mary's in Greene, complained about his financial management and his relationship with a woman.
Archbishop James Byrne sent Schmitz to a treatment program, Hanus said.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 15, 2005) — Counselors at a Maryland psychiatric center for priests recommended in a 2002 report to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester that the Rev. Michael Volino should be restricted from ministry involving children.
The counselors also cautioned against allowing Volino, a Greece-based priest, to work in schools and recommended that he have no unsupervised contact with children.
These recommendations, also included in the report by St. Luke's Institute, a church-run facility outside Washington in Silver Spring, Md., apparently did not deter the diocese from permitting Volino to continue as a practicing priest within the Monroe County community.
But now, with Volino's recent arrest on child pornography charges, the diocese finds itself having to confront whether it closed its eyes to the possibility that Volino posed a threat to youngsters.
Portions of the report — which was not released to the public — were read publicly by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman at a Monday court hearing.
GARY (IN)
Post-Tribune
March 15, 2005
By Frank Wiget / Post-Tribune staff writer
Police in Florida are not filing any criminal charges against a Diocese of Gary priest who is accused of molesting a Florida man when he was temporarily assigned to the Orlando Diocese years ago.
The 29-year-old Florida man, calling himself “John Doe” in a civil lawsuit, claims the Rev. Richard Emerson sexually abused him while the priest was on temporary assignment in Orlando between 1986 and 1991.
Detective Jonathan O’Hern of the Crimes Against Children section of the Orlando Police Department said Monday a thorough investigation of the allegation was conducted before it was decided not to pursue criminal charges.
It was a combination of the time element and applicable state and federal statutes that blocked filing of criminal charges, O’Hern said.
OAKLAND (CA)
Oakland Tribune
FROM STAFF WRITER AND WIRE REPORTS
Jury selection started Monday in the civil trial of two brothers suing the Diocese of Oakland for alleged sexual molestation by a former priest.
Attorney Richard Simons, representing Robert and Tom Thatcher in the case, said a pool of 78 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires on the case Monday afternoon, and another 78 are expected to fill out similar questionnaires this morning.
Jury selection could continue into next week, a diocese spokesman said.
The brothers claim they were molested more than 20 years ago by the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, then-pastor at St. Ignatius Church in Antioch. Ponciroli has since been defrocked.
GREECE (NY)
WHAM
Patrice Walsh (Greece, nY ) 03/15/05 -- Some parishioners at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece say they support their priest, the Rev. Michael Volino, who has been accused of downloading child pornography. But, they are also angry at the Catholic Diocese of Rochester for the way it dealt with the priest's behavioral issues three years earlier.
It is a very emotional time for St. John's parishioners. While most say they are praying for Volino, they also wouldn't discuss the issue on camera.
Betty Bauman has been a member of the St. John the Evangelist for more than 50 years. The church is literally in her back yard. She cried when she talked about Volino's arrest.
"I feel so sorry for him. I admired him. He was a wonderful priest. He brought a lot of good to us," she said.
DUBUQUE (IA)
Courier
DUBUQUE (AP) --- A lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Dubuque by a woman who claims she was sexually abused in 1959 by John Schmitz, a former priest who worked in nine eastern Iowa parishes from 1957 through 1982.
The archdiocese had been told about the lawsuit, but had not yet received a copy, Monsignor James Barta said Monday. A court clerk confirmed that the lawsuit had been filed Friday but not yet recorded in the court's online database.
Schmitz, who died in 1991, was ordained Feb. 2, 1957, according to a statement released by the archdiocese. He served in nine parishes over the years: Immaculate Conception, in Lansing; St. Joseph, New Hampton; St. Joseph, Mason City; All Saints, Cedar Rapids; St. Mary, Manchester; St. Joseph, Greeley; St. Peter, Clermont; St. Anthony, Zearing; and St. Mary, Greene.
In 1982, parishioners complained to Archbishop James Byrne about Schmitz's financial skills and his relationship with an adult woman. Byrne removed Schmitz as a pastor and sent him to a treatment program. Afterward, the archbishop did not accept Schmitz back.
NEW YORK
The New York Times
By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: March 15, 2005
A Catholic official whose private law practice was publicly censured has stepped down as head of the New York archdiocese's program to protect children from sexual abuse, a church spokesman said yesterday.
The official, Robert G. Whiteman, director of the archdiocese's Safe Environment Program, resigned near the beginning of this month and has also quit his post as deacon of his church in White Plains, said Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The departure, Mr. Zwilling said, was for "personal and health reasons."
Last November, The New York Times reported that Mr. Whiteman was censured in 1996 on six misconduct charges, among them a charge that he had mishandled $5,000 of a client's settlement money. Mr. Whiteman received a medium-level reprimand from a panel of judges that disciplines lawyers, for conduct "involving fraud, deceit, dishonesty or misrepresentation," court records show. The archdiocese said that it learned of Mr. Whiteman's history only when it was contacted by The Times for that article.
Mr. Zwilling said yesterday that after learning of Mr. Whiteman's disciplinary record in November, the archdiocese, which had named him to the post six weeks earlier, "decided that he would continue on as director," and that his recent resignation was unrelated to the censure.
WASHINGTON (DC)
USA Today
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — A contingent of Catholic bishops and financially savvy lay leaders on Monday announced an initiative to put the struggling U.S. church on sound business footing from the parish level up.
The church has been shaken by a costly three-year sexual abuse scandal, which so far has tipped three dioceses into bankruptcy. The church must operate parishes and schools with fewer priests, fewer dollars and more lay people clamoring for participation and accountability.
Now, bishops can call on a newly createdAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management for guidance in business, finance and human resources, said one of the founders, Geoffrey Boisi, a vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase.
With a total of 1 million employees and an aggregate annual operating budget of almost $100 billion, the church rivals the nation's largest corporations in size and complexity, said Boisi, a major donor to Catholic causes.
Yet most of the USA's 196 dioceses and their 19,600-plus parishes have no way to take advantage of economies of scale in their operations. They do their own buying their own travel booking and their own negotiation for services such as insurance.
FORT WORTH (TX)
WFAA
10:02 PM CST on Monday, March 14, 2005
By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA-TV
New charges have been filed against a popular Arlington pastor arrested last week after he was accused of several sex assaults.
Agape Christian Fellowship's Bishop Terry Hornbuckle posted a $405,000 bond and left jail Monday afternoon flanked by crowd of reporters and photographers, but on the same day a charge of methamphetamine possession was added to the charges on which he was originally indicted.
"One of the conditions is that he must wear an ankle monitor," said Harry Grisham of the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department. "The other conditions are no alcohol, no drugs and no firearms. He'll have to submit to a urinalysis with probation officers on a regular basis."
The original indictments said the 43-year old pastor, married with three children, sexually assaulted three of his members - one of them twice. Two of the alleged victims said Hornbuckle led them to a Euless apartment complex, fixed them drinks laced with date-rape drug GHB and then took advantage of them.
Police found several additional items in Hornbuckle's SUV following his arrest on Friday, including between one and four grams of methamphetamine, which led to the drug charges filed Monday.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Duluth News Tribune
BY ANTHONY SPANGLER AND MARK AGEE
Knight Ridder Newspapers
FORT WORTH, Texas - (KRT) - Bishop Terry L. Hornbuckle, pastor of Agape Christian Fellowship church in Arlington, Texas, has been charged with rape and drug possession after complaints filed by three women who attended the church.
Hornbuckle, 43, of Grapevine, Texas, was arrested Friday on the sexual assault charges and was being released Monday when a felony drug possession case was filed against him.
"He was in his street clothes and we were ready to turn him loose. Then we got word of the new charge," said Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff's deputies said they found 1 to 4 grams of suspected methamphetamine inside Hornbuckle's vehicle after his arrest, court and jail officials said.
DUBUQUE (IA)
WQAD
DUBUQUE, Iowa A lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Dubuque by a woman who claims she was sexually abused in 1959 by John Schmitz, a former priest who worked in nine eastern Iowa parishes from 1957 through 1982.
Monsignor James Barta says the archdiocese had been told about the lawsuit but had not yet received a copy. A court clerk confirmed that the lawsuit had been filed Friday but not yet recorded in the court's online database.
The archdiocese says Schmitz, who died in 1991, was ordained February 2nd, 1957. He served in nine parishes over the years: Immaculate Conception, in Lansing; St. Joseph, New Hampton; St. Joseph, Mason City; All Saints, Cedar Rapids; St. Mary, Manchester; St. Joseph, Greeley; St. Peter, Clermont; St. Anthony, Zearing; and St. Mary, Greene.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 12, 2005) — The Catholic Diocese of Rochester did not know that the Rev. Michael Volino, accused this week of possession of child pornography, was undergoing counseling to treat a possible fixation with sexual images of youngsters, according to a diocesan spokesman.
"We had no knowledge that Father Volino was, as the FBI complaint alleges, having conversations with a private counselor about a 'desire to view sexually explicit pictures,'" said diocesan spokesman Doug Mandelaro.
Volino, 41, has been a priest at St. John the Evangelist Church of Greece, 2400 W. Ridge Road, since 2002.
Federal authorities Thursday charged Volino with receiving and possessing child pornography. In an affidavit, FBI special agent Michael Preisser said Volino admitted that "he had sexual issues for which he was seeking professional help."
Volino had been undergoing counseling for three years and said he "had told his counselor about his desire to view sexually explicit pictures of boys younger than 18 years old," the FBI affidavit alleges.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 14, 2005) — A federal magistrate judge today ordered the Rev. Michael Volino to stay at an Elmira monastery as he awaits trial on child pornography charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman said reports from 2002 showed that therapists at a Maryland-based counseling center had decided that Volino should not be around children, based on evaluations of Volino.
Volino, 41, last week was accused of receiving and possessing child pornography after a diocese technician repairing Volino's computer reportedly found pornographic images of children stored there.
Volino's lawyer, John Parrinello, today argued that Volino should be allowed to stay under house arrest in the Rochester area. Feldman indicated he believed the monastery was a safer setting.
OAKLAND (CA)
MSNBC
Jury selection begins Monday in a sex abuse case against the Oakland Diocese. Two former altar boys allege church leaders allowed a known pedophile priest to molest them in the late 1970s and early 1980s at Saint Ignatius Church.
The Alameda County lawsuit and a separate suit in San Francisco this week are the first two civil cases to reach trial under a 2002 state law.
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O’Reilly
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled unanimously yesterday against 18 adults seeking to sue the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for sex abuse they alleged happened many years ago.
The judges said that even though the alleged abuse was "inexcusable," Pennsylvania's statute of limitations trumped any right to sue on the grounds that the archdiocese had unlawfully interfered with the victims' timely reporting of their abuse.
C. Clark Hodgson Jr., who represented the archdiocese in the Feb. 16 arguments, said yesterday he believed the court's decision effectively blocked such suits against dioceses across the state.
Richard Serbin, an Altoona lawyer who helped to develop the legal strategy that the court rejected, said he was disappointed by the ruling. He said he and his co-counsel, Jay Abramowitch of Berks County, intended to appeal the ruling to the Pennyslvania Supreme Court.
NAPA (CA)
Register
Monday, March 14, 2005
DAVID RYAN
Register Staff Writer
While hundreds of cases charging Catholic priests with sexual abuse work their way through the California courts, one stands out: The case that charges Monsignor Joseph Alzugaray, now head of St. Appolinaris Catholic Church in Napa, with sexually abusing a young girl in Los Angeles nearly 40 years ago.
The case is unusual in part because Alzugaray is vigorously battling the claims, going farther than other priests in California by filing a counter-suit against his accuser, Erin Brady.
Now, more than a year after the Southern California woman filed a lawsuit accusing Alzugaray of abuse, court documents obtained by the Register indicate the Catholic diocese in Los Angeles and Santa Rosa has never fully investigated claims that were first raised in 1993. Alzugaray and the church have said in their defense that Alzugaray had been cleared by several internal investigations.
Letters between church officials, church-generated psychological reports obtained by the Register, and testimony in the Brady-Alzugaray court case, show that Alzugaray has been subject to repeated psychological and other inquiries. But the church focused on Alzugaray's handling of church finances and on his decisions to transfer from one diocese to another.
UNITED STATES
Bradenton Herald
By RICHARD N. OSTLING
Associated Press
Roman Catholic lay leaders announced the formation of an organization Monday that would offer professional guidance to America's bishops on how to run the church.
As its first act, the nonprofitAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management issued an 80-page "Report on the Church in America" in Washington, with 48 recommendations to overhaul administration, personnel policies, finances and governance. Perhaps the most controversial item seeks changes in the way bishops are chosen.
The report was mailed to all U.S. bishops last week. Roundtable leaders will meet on Tuesday at U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops headquarters in Washington with three bishops who will be the hierarchy's liaison with the new organization.
The report said the church suffers from "deep-seated ideological divisions" among members, "a pervasive culture of secrecy," clergy-dominated operations, "weakening influence" for its doctrinal and moral message and a decline in religious vocations.
One participant, Francis Butler, president of an alliance of Catholic donors, said, "The church is financially on the edge today."
Though dioceses are autonomous, the report noted, taken as a whole they hire more than a million employees and have operating budgets of nearly $100 billion, making the U.S. church the equivalent of a major business corporation.
Geoffrey Boisi, vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase and a prime organizer of the roundtable, said the scandal of clergy sexual abuse "was an impetus for action" and "a wake-up call to lay leaders and church leaders to start working together," but an increase in such lay involvement was inevitable anyway given the church's problems.
IOWA
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
March 14, 2005
A Dubuque woman has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Dubuque alleging that in 1959, she was raped as a child by the Rev. John A. Schmitz.
The lawsuit, which was filed Friday in Dubuque County District Court, is the first to name Schmitz, who is deceased. The lawsuit alleges that the woman was assaulte while she was attending Sacred Heart School in Dubuque,
Msgr. James O. Barta, vicar general, said the archdiocese has not yet received the lawsuit and would have not comment until Archbishop Jerome Hanus and church attorneys had read it.
The Dubuque archdiocese has asked the Vatican to sanction seven Catholic priests who have credible allegations of sexual misconduct against them.
TOLEDO (OH)
New York Newsday
By Associated Press
March 14, 2005, 2:49 PM EST
TOLEDO, Ohio -- A bishop apologized to clergy sexual abuse victims during a Mass at a church where one alleged abuser once worked.
Bishop Leonard Blair of the Toledo Roman Catholic Diocese read a seven-minute statement Sunday before the congregation at St. Pius X Church in the northern Ohio city.
Part of Blair's statement was required under a court settlement between the diocese and Teresa Bombrys, who has said she was abused as a child by Chet Warren, a former priest at St. Pius.
Blair apologized directly to Bombrys.
He also acknowledged all victims' suffering, praised their courage and encouraged others to come forward.
"By exposing an evil that festered for decades, they make it possible for the healing to begin," Blair said. "And my apology goes to anyone who has been abused whether at this parish or anywhere in the diocese of Toledo."
ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM
Chalonda Roberts (Rochester, NY) 03/14/05 -- There are new questions in the case of a Roman Catholic priest from Rochester charged with possessing child pornography.
During a court appearance on Monday, a judge ordered Father Michael Volino to stay at a monastery in Elmira. The judge said he based his decision on reports in 2002 from therapists at St. Luke's Institute, a counseling center in Maryland, that said Father Volino should not be around children.
Volino will reside at the monastery until next month when he's expected back in court.
The statement released a statement saying that back in 2002, the diocese asked Volino to undergo an assessment at St. Luke's for behavioral issues--not sex abuse. Volino agreed to undergo the assessment.
In the statement, the diocese admits to failing to adequately monitor the follow through of some of the recommendations. However, the diocese also said the report did not give any findings nor did the diocese interpret any indication that Volino would be a danger to anyone.
IOWA
Radio Iowa
by Darwin Danielson
Representatives of a support group for people who've been abused by priests blasted the Dubuque Catholic Archdiocese today in the wake of a lawsuit filed against a now deceased priest. The lawsuit by an unnamed girl says Father John A. Schmitz sexually abused her at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Dubuque in 1959. Steve Theisen , the co-organizer of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP, says they have several concerns about the case. He says, "The confessional was used to initiate the sexual contact with the child. The other things that're disturbing is that the affidavit or petition, there were four or five priests that were involved in the investigation of this, and they all knew about it and they all kept it quiet." Theisen says they're also upset that Father Schmitz was transferred from parish to parish and continued in priestly duties despite the church leaders knowing he raped a 12-yr old grade school girl. He says, "Society would not accept a serial rapist, or child molester to go places, yet uh, it seems like the Catholic Church harbors these people." A spokesperson for the Dubuque Diocese says they now have a process in place to handle abuse allegations.
ROCHESTER (NY)
WROC
3/14/2005 6:00 PM
Did the Rochester Catholic Diocese drop the ball in the case of a local priest charged with possessing child pornography? That's the question after troubling new details surfaced on the history of Father Michael Volino.
The priest is facing federal charges after the discovery of child pornography on his computer in January, but on Monday we learned that there were concerns about his behavior years before that.
Deemed a "potential danger to the community" by Federal Judge Jonathan Feldman, Father Volino has been ordered to confinement at an Elmira monastery. The decision was based, in part, on new evidence included in an old report. It was issued in 2002 from the Saint Luke Institute, a Maryland treatment facility for troubled clergy.
The Diocese says it asked Rev. Volino to undergo assessment at St. Luke's Institute, but says the referral and assessment were related to "behavioral issues and not to sexual abuse."
UNITED STATES
The Sunday Times Magazine
Investigation
How America's Catholic Church crucified itself
4,000 paedophile priests identified
80 churches closed down
An archbishop forced to resign
$800m paid in lawsuits
100,000 child victims estimated — and thousands more still at risk
The archbishop's summer residence was the first to go. There had been questions: why does he need the picture-postcard colonial mansion, with its five bedrooms and private beach on the exclusive Cape Cod shoreline? Didn't he already have an opulent mansion in Boston? The three-story abode, resplendent in marble and mahogany to reflect its occupant's stature, had been built in the style of an Italian palazzo, and the archbishop's daily routine was catered for by a posse of nuns. The beach-house sale raised more than $2.5m, but it didn't stop there. His official Boston residence had to be sold too, and, along with 43 neighbouring acres, raised over $100m. But it didn't stop there either.
More than 80 Catholic churches in the Boston archdiocese were ordered to close their doors to save overheads. Parishioners occupied some of them, sleeping on pews, in a hopeless bid to save them. But still the inexorable rot ate away at the fabric of the church.
The archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, 74, was forced to resign. He had paid a heavy personal price. This only son of an air-force colonel, who joined the priesthood in 1961 and became one of the most powerful men in the United States after fighting in the front line of Mississippi's civil-rights movement, was ÒretiredÓ to Rome — a life's work sullied because he put the church's name before the protection of his flock. Law had spent 18 years effectively protecting paedophile priests, who went on, time and again, to re-offend and rape children entrusted to their care by devout parents. It emerged that Law's response to overwhelming evidence of paedophile activity was simply to move the priest to another parish, often allowing them to continue working with children, to write them glowing references and tributes, and to pay off victims' families. More than 1,000 children in the Boston area were sacrificed in the interests of protecting the diocese from scandal.
GREECE
ABC
A former foreign minister Karolos Papoulias has been sworn in as Greece's sixth president but several politicians boycotted the ceremony to protest the presence of the country's embattled spiritual leader.
Greece's new head of state, Karolos Papoulias, assumed the largely ceremonial post after being sworn in before Athens' 300-seat Parliament.
The 75-year-old politician becomes Greece's sixth president since the collapse of seven years of military rule in 1974.
In an unprecedented step, some parliamentarians stayed away from the ceremony to protest the presence of Archbishop Christodoulos, who as leader of the Greek Orthodox Church has been heavily criticised following a spate of sex and corruption scandals within its ranks.
JERUSALEM
Financial Times
By Harvey Morris
Published: March 14 2005 02:00 | Last updated: March 14 2005 02:00
In the latest twist in an episode that has rocked the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem to its 16-centuries-old foundations, an Israeli court has ruled that the 2001 election of its patriarch, Irineos I, was illegal.
The case has exposed a bizarre tale of intrigue involving a fugitive drug dealer, missing millions from church coffers and an alleged assassination plot against the patriarch by a priestly rival that has left the Greek-born hierarchy and its Palestinian laity reeling.
Coupled with allegations of illicit land deals and sexual misconduct within the priesthood, the crisis has prompted a senior churchman to warn of a potential split in the Holy Land's richest Christian institution. The Greek patriarchate is Israel's biggest landowner apart from the government, owning prime areas of Jerusalem real estate that include the site of the Israeli parliament.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Dateline Alabama
The Associated Press
March 14, 2005
In an effort to prevent sexual abuse in churches in South Carolina, leaders are asking would-be volunteers to undergo criminal background checks.
The request has drawn mixed reactions.
"Those who are really serious about it will submit to it," said the Rev. Curtis Johnson of Valley Brook Outreach Baptist Church. "Those who really want to work with the children understand."
Seven cases of forceable rape were reported in South Carolina houses of worship in 2003, the latest year for which figures are available from the State Law Enforcement Division. One case of forceable sodomy and 10 cases of forceable fondling also were reported, the figures show.
OHIO
Toledo Blade
In the interest of justice, Ohio's Third District Court of Appeals ruled that a civil suit against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati involving sexual abuse by a priest can proceed despite an expired statute of limitations. In the interest of itself, the Cincinnati archdiocese said it planned to appeal the ruling to the Ohio Supreme Court to block the lawsuit.
Certainly a fear of the archdiocese and church leaders throughout the state is that the appellate decision could have huge ramifications in the advancement of other pending clerical sexual abuse cases. Many in Ohio and elsewhere have not proceeded to trial because the statute of limitations on the accusations made have long since expired.
The case of the Cincinnati victim, who filed anonymously as John Doe, now goes back to the Shelby County Common Pleas Court, where it had been declined because of time limitations. The victim, who says he was abused as a minor by a local priest, did not file a complaint until two years too late after his 18th birthday.
The priest named in his suit, the Rev. Thomas Hopp, admitted to the abuse three years ago and was immediately removed from ministry. But the statute of limitations meant Father Hopp avoided a courtroom showdown.
However, because of extenuating circumstances cited by the victim in the case, the appellate judges ordered the common pleas court to reinstate the lawsuit. Those qualifying factors included the archdiocese not reporting the priest's alleged crimes to authorities, attempting to conceal the abuse, and engaging in "a pattern of corrupt activities."
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
BLADE STAFF WRITER
In a long-awaited apology to victims of clergy sexual abuse, Bishop Leonard Blair yesterday addressed more than 200 parishioners, victims, and their supporters at St. Pius X Church - acknowledging the suffering of victims, inviting others to step forward, and declaring that Chet Warren, a former priest, had committed "grievously sinful and criminal" acts.
Dressed in traditional Lenten vestments, Bishop Blair turned to Teresa Bombrys, who had been abused as a child by then-Father Warren, at the end of morning Mass.
"I want to apologize to you, Teresa, in person and publicly as the bishop of Toledo for the harm you have suffered. And my apology goes to anyone who has been abused whether at this parish or anywhere in the diocese of Toledo," he said.
For more than seven minutes, Bishop Blair read from a prepared statement that was later lauded by victims as possibly a pivotal event in the continuing struggle between the diocese and victims of decades-old sexual abuse.
"I think that when we look back on this in history, today will stand out as a significant moment," said Barbara Blaine, an attorney and founder of the national support group for victims, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Ms. Blaine, too, had accused Mr. Warren of molesting her as a child. Yesterday's public apology prompted her return visit to the parish where she had been raised, and brought both her personal crusade and her national movement full circle.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee
By Jennifer Garza -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, March 14, 2005
Lawyers for the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and attorneys representing 33 people who've claimed clergy sexual abuse begin court-ordered mediation today.
Citing a significant gap in insurance coverage, diocesan officials say some of the money to pay for the settlements might have to come from other programs.
"We're facing potentially serious financial challenges, and the money is going to have to come from somewhere," said Jim Sweeney, counsel for the diocese.
Sweeney said most of the claims stem from events that allegedly occurred more than 30 years ago and that diocesan officials have had to reconstruct insurance coverage that is decades old.
They have been unable to identify all of the insurance in effect at that time, and one of the insurance carriers has gone bankrupt.
ALASKA
News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer
Casting off another layer of secrecy was a freeing moment for Elsie Boudreau, a 37-year-old Yupik woman who claims she was sexually abused as a child by the Rev. Jim Poole, founder of radio station KNOM in Nome.
"Not using my name just continued the secrecy of abuse," said Boudreau, who was known as Jane Doe 1.
"I can free myself from the guilt and shame, and for me that is the main purpose and greatest reason I decided to use my name at this point."
Discarding the alias, Boudreau said, makes her a real person and she said she hopes that will encourage other sexual abuse victims to speak out. But while the settlement with the diocese over Boudreau's claims and the name change have had a positive effect on her life, she said she still feels the aftereffects of the abuse she suffered from Poole, now 82, retired and living at Jesuit retirement community in Spokane, Wash.
"I am getting to the point where I can say I have nothing to hide," she said, adding, "But even today I have to fight feelings of guilt. They just creep up."
BOSTON (MA)
Nashua Telegraph
Published: Sunday, Mar. 13, 2005
BOSTON (AP) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston plans to start auditing its parishes once every three years and provide annual budgets and financial reports to parishioners in an effort to restore public confidence and prevent fraud.
The changes are part of a broader plan by Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley to create more financial transparency by the archdiocese, which is under increased scrutiny since the clergy sexual abuse crisis and parish closings, chancellor David Smith told The Boston Globe.
“It costs a tremendous amount of money to run a parish . . . and we certainly think it’s necessary and beneficial to share that information with the people in the pews, because people - if they understand what is going on in the parish, and the money that is being spent on their children and on the sick and on the poor within these parishes - will be much more comfortable in making their donations,” he said.
“And they have every right to know how we’re using the money,” Smith added.
AUSTIN (TX)
American-Statesman
By David Kassabian
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Stephanie Burt has been a familiar sight in the halls of the Capitol for the past few months, telling any senator or representative who will listen the story of her 34-year-old son who was repeatedly molested as a child by his church pastor.
Since Burt moved to Austin from East Texas in April to become an amateur lobbyist, she has tried to persuade lawmakers to support eliminating the statute of limitations for charges of indecency with a child. Currently, accusers cannot press charges after their 28th birthday.
"It's like, who are you for, the predator or the child?" Burt said last week. "At this moment the power is all in the predator's court, and they are using the law to their advantage."
Burt's son, Tommy, didn't remember the abuse until 1996, when he was 26 years old, and wasn't ready to press charges until two years later. A subsequent investigation by local prosecutors revealed that at least 35 other boys from the small East Texas town of Henderson were allegedly assaulted by Kenneth Eugene Ward, prosecutors said.
But because the alleged abuse had occurred decades earlier, the statute of limitations had expired. Despite a full written confession by Ward vividly detailing alleged transgressions across three decades, and specifically mentioning Tommy Burt by name, only the latest incident of abuse Ward confessed to was eligible for prosecution.
TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL
TOLEDO -- Bishop Leonard Blair apologized Sunday to a woman who was sexually abused by a former priest.
During the final moments of mass at St. Pius, Bishop Blair apologized to Teresa Bombrys for sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Father Chet Warren.
"It comes very sincerely from me on behalf of the Diocese that people like Teresa who were abused, we need to apologize to them publicly," said Blair.
Bishop Blair went even further backing up Bombrys' sexual abuse accusations saying, "upon investigation in compliance with the Toledo Diocesan Sexual Abuse Policy, Teresa's allegations were determined to be credible."
TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL
"Having served as your Bishop for over a year now, I have experienced many things, both good and bad, even tragic, that are part of life in the Diocese of Toledo.
I understand that St. Pius parish recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. As with any parish, there are many events of a half-century to be remembered with gratitude to God. From baptisms to funerals and everything in between; so many of life's significant moments have taken place here for thousands of parishioners.
However, not all the events that have marked the parish's history are joyful or consoling. I need to discuss with you what is a very painful part of life for some members of this parish.
Many years ago, from the early sixties until 1974 a priest who worked here hurt some of the children by acts that are grievously sinful and criminal. Reports of sexual abuse against minors by the then Father Chet Warren, a former oblate priest, were made public over a decade ago. Many loyal parishioners since then have felt obliged to support Warren, saying that he did much good here. It is understandable that many did not want to believe the allegations. No one wants to believe that a trusted priest would harm children.
UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News
11:05 AM CST on Saturday, March 12, 2005
As a priest today, the Rev. Joseph F. Wilson says he is constantly on guard - and furious with the Church that has made him live this way.
The fellow turned the corner, asking, "Sammy, you done?" Then, seeing me standing there at the sink – rather, seeing my clerical collar – he stiffened. I had barely noticed the 8-year-old boy who was standing four sinks down from me in the Delta Shuttle men's room at LaGuardia Airport.
Pointedly, emphatically, the man said, "Sammy, is everything OK ?" Just a small incident. The boy probably did not even realize its significance, having paid less attention to me than I to him. But, of course, I understood. And Sammy's father understood. In his eyes, I am of a class of people not to be trusted, especially by the fathers of little boys.
I am a Catholic priest.
UNITED STATES
The Remant
Fr. Charles Dahlby
GUEST COLUMNIST
As a Catholic priest, I have an investment in issues that affect the Church and the people of God. And, as a Christian, I have an obligation to speak out. So let me make the following points as clearly as I can:
1) Most of the scandals and evils we see in the Church today are brought about primarily by homosexuality. Homosexuality is an objective moral disorder and unacceptable in the priesthood! For nearly two thousand years the teachings of the scripture, the magisterium, and Tradition—the three sources of revelation which give us truth—have all agreed: homosexuality as an “abomination”! Only recently have Phil and Oprah and a few TV sitcoms disagreed. But God doesn’t change, and Phil and Oprah won’t be on the throne to judge us!
2) Even though Church documents forbid the acceptance of homosexuals into the seminary and, quite obviously, their ordination to the priesthood, those in authority have for years looked the other way, (don’t ask, don’t tell) and homosexuals have flocked into the Church. Now they have positions of authority! They use this authority to protect and promote one another, creating a distinct subculture that is rapidly becoming dominant. This sub-culture is the ideal homosexual environment. As a priest no one questions why you aren’t married. You get respect that you don’t necessarily earn. You have a target-rich environment, especially if you have a school, and, if you slip up and get caught, the civil authorities will not want to prosecute you because you’re a priest and, as we have seen, the Church will cover you, defend you, and may set you up in another parish or even another diocese so you can continue to prey on God’s people.
A homosexual predator could not hope to find a more friendly and supportive environment than priesthood in the American Catholic Church!
BRITAIN
This is Hertfordshire
A New Southgate man who is a major in the Salvation Army was found guilty last week of abusing a 14-year-old boy in the 1980s.
Graham Jones, now 61, of Brookdale, New Southgate, was sentenced to eight years in prison at Leeds Crown Court for sexually abusing the boy, who was a member of Jones' congregation in Yorkshire.
Jones, who has two sons and three grandchildren, was caught after a rag in the loft of the Salvation Army Citadel, in Wakefield, was found to carry his DNA and the boy's.
The teenager looked up to Jones, who was a respected figure in the Salvation Army, and was too scared to complain when he began to grope him.
The court heard the boy was systematically groomed, and Jones eventually began to have full intercourse with the 14-year-old in the church toilets and loft.
CLARKSVILLE (TN)
WVLT
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. The final child rape charges against a former Clarksville minister have been dropped.
Montgomery County prosecutors decided yesterday to dismiss three remaining charges against the Reverend LaMonte McNeese, but could charge him again in the future.
McNeese was supposed to go to trial March 28th on three charges _ two counts of child rape and one count of statutory rape.
But prosecutors asked Circuit Court Judge Michael Jones to retire the case because they said the alleged victim was too emotionally scarred from a November 2004 trial in Stewart County to testify again against McNeese.
SPRINGFIELD (IL)
SJ-R.com
By DAVE BAKKE
STAFF WRITER
In the past 20 years, three watershed events in the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese have shaken, and in some cases destroyed, the image of the priest and the faith of Catholics.
The Rev. Alvin Campbell was first. Campbell used his priesthood at St. Maurice Parish in Morrisonville as a tool to seduce boys. He was convicted as a pedophile in the days when using the words "pedophile" and "priest" in the same sentence was unthinkable. In 1985, Campbell pleaded guilty but mentally ill to molestation charges. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
For Catholics across the 28 counties of the Springfield diocese, Campbell's exposure was the beginning of their loss of innocence. They did not let it go without a fight. Their initial reaction was outrage and anger - directed almost as much at media coverage of Campbell as at his crimes.
In the 19 years since Campbell's guilty plea, the Springfield diocese has earned a reputation in national Catholic circles as a troubled, volatile place. The list of names of local clergy linked to scandals from homosexual and heterosexual affairs to embezzlement is a long one.
Next came Bishop Daniel Ryan. His early years as bishop were marred by his admitted alcohol abuse for which he received treatment in the summer of 1986. Ryan's final two years before his resignation in 1999 were spent under the cloud of sexual misconduct accusations.
UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News
11:06 AM CST on Saturday, March 12, 2005
Some accusations may be false, but most are all too real, says David Clohessy.
If ever anyone doubted that our justice system makes mistakes, surely those doubts have largely been erased in recent years. Innocent people do go to jail sometimes (though far more guilty people do indeed go free). With luck, new evidence comes to light and sets them free. And yet, they can't get those years back, nor easily repair their broken relationships, careers and lives.
Tragic? Absolutely. Yet proportionality must be considered.
For each relatively rare case of an innocent man being deemed guilty, we should remind ourselves that far more heinous criminals are never charged, never found guilty and never locked up. As a result, more vulnerable adults and innocent children are taken advantage of, exploited and raped.
Let me get more specific regarding what I know best: child sexual abuse by clergy.
For decades, Catholic bishops and their PR staffs worked hard to minimize the now widely documented crisis caused by thousands of twisted priests and hundreds of complicit bishops. They repeatedly claim (citing fundamentally partial and misleading figures) that most of the crimes took place long ago.
But they rarely cite one telling number provided by their own most knowledgeable source, Patrick Schiltz, who for over 20 years as a defense lawyer has helped more than 500 Catholic priests accused of molesting children.
GREECE
Kathimerini
The process to initiate government checks on the finances of the Church of Greece and to pass a law requiring bishops to declare their assets will begin next week, Education and Religious Affairs Minister Marietta Giannakou said yesterday.
Giannakou indicated that, in conjunction with Economy and Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis, she would issue a formal decision that would start the ball rolling for investigations into the financial management of Church organizations and bishoprics. A draft law will also be submitted to Parliament which will make it necessary for bishops to declare their assets and funds-source (pothen esches) each financial year — an exercise they are currently exempt from.
The measure was agreed upon last month by Church hierarchs, headed by Archbishop Christodoulos, as part of a process to clean up the institution in the wake of a spate of corruption scandals, some of which involved the alleged misappropriation of Church funds.
Meanwhile, Kallinikos, Bishop of Piraeus, submitted a written explanation to the Holy Synod, the Church’s ruling body, with regard to allegations that he sexually molested a cantor some 13 years ago. Kallinikos denies the claims and yesterday said he was the victim of dirty tricks. The bishop asked for an immediate investigation to be launched by the Holy Synod so he could clear his name. The body appointed Vassilios, Bishop of Elassona, to head the probe.
GREECE
inadaily.com
ATHENS
As Socialist former foreign minister Karolos Papoulias was preparing to be sworn in today, before Parliament, as Greece's sixth president since the restoration of democracy in 1974, an embarrassing controversy was growing over the Church's role in the ceremony.
Fearing dissent among its more anti-clerical elements, Papoulias's PASOK party was forced yesterday to issue a circular instructing all Socialist MPs to attend the noon event.
"As it is easy to understand, any absence could lead to various comments and interpretations," Dimitris Reppas, secretary of the party's parliamentary group, wrote to MPs. "Your attendance will serve as a display of respect to our institutions, as well as to Karolos Papoulias."
Nevertheless, Theodoros Koliopanos, a former PASOK deputy public works minister, said he would not be there.
Koliopanos objects to the fact that Papoulias, 76, will be sworn in by Archbishop Christodoulos, head of the sex and corruption scandal-bedeviled Church of Greece. While suspending one bishop and forcing a second to resign, Christodoulos - who has himself been implicated in the scandal - has refused to step down.
Synaspismos Left Coalition has already stated that its MPs will not attend the event, in protest at Christodoulos's role in it, and has called for the president to be sworn in at a secular ceremony led by the Parliament speaker. Nevertheless, the party insisted it by no means intended to snub Papoulias.
PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian
Sunday, March 13, 2005
ASHBEL S. GREEN
James Clarizio remembered the Rev. Thomas Laughlin as a giant, a man with a voice that filled a church, a man who once declared, "I am God," a man to obey when he ordered young Jimmy to take off his clothes and climb into the priest's bed.
When Clarizio, 39, walked into a law firm's conference room Tuesday morning, he clutched his childhood fear of that man, even though he had not seen him in a quarter century.
But sitting at a green table was someone who appeared quite different.
"He was a frail old man in an ill-fitting suit with too wide of a tie whose voice did not even sound the same," Clarizio said.
Clarizio and more than a dozen other former altar boys have accused Laughlin of abusing them. They reached financial settlements with the Portland Archdiocese, but last fall several of them sued Laughlin.
The men didn't expect to get money from the former priest. Instead, the lawsuit gave them a certain amount of control over a man who had held so much power over them. They wanted to force Laughlin to return to Oregon for the first time since he left in disgrace 21 years ago. They wanted this moment: sitting across the room from Laughlin as their lawyer made him confess to the damage he did to dozens of boys.
MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News
A Merrimack Valley couple has created a Web site on which people can anonymously alert law enforcement about sexual predators.
The New Hampshire attorney general has endorsed the concept. Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly should, too.
Diane Williams Galebach and her husband, Stephen Galebach, who live in Andover, created the site — victimpower.org — in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandals that rocked the Roman Catholic Church. Locally, complaints of abuse have been raised against priests from both the Archdiocese of Boston and the Diocese of Manchester, N.H.
The site is unique in that it allows two-way communication between law enforcement officials and anonymous victims. Previously, investigators could not talk to victims providing tips through the mail or "crime lines" without knowing their identities.
In eight weeks of operation, the Web site has hosted 210 user accounts and received two dozen reports of abuse from around the country.
ARIZONA
The Dallas Morning News
10:57 AM CST on Saturday, March 12, 2005
Greg Speers is in prison today on a flawed conviction. The way his case was handled raises questions about fairness in the justice system. Laura Beil tells her cousin's story and how it has made her wary - as a parent and an American.
GREG SPEERS / Self Portrait My cousin Greg Speers lost his life on April 28, 2000. Maybe he will still get it back.
The youngest of my Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Bob's eight children, Greg grew up in Tucson, where Uncle Bob was a Walgreens pharmacist. The family would pull up in front of our house in Marshall every other summer, packed into a station wagon brushed with two days of Southwest sand. Those were the Julys of sleeping bags, games of freeze tag, and a slamming back screen door.
Bob and Charlotte Speers presided over the Catholic branch of the family. They were made for children. After their own grew up, they took in foster kids – first Vietnamese refugees, then neglected souls in need of emergency shelter. My aunt and uncle didn't do good deeds because they thought they ought to. They were simply not capable of anything else.
Greg was an engaging, cheery kid who soaked up his role as the baby in the family. The fair-haired adolescent grew into a fetching man, with enviable cheekbones and a Hollywood smile. He stole hearts, then broke them when, in his early 20s, he announced his intention to enter the seminary.
Ultimately, though, he became disillusioned and wanted to reconsider. As a respite, the diocese offered him a job teaching second-graders at a Catholic elementary school in Yuma in 1999. Soon after, an old girlfriend followed him out, and the decision was cinched. He began preparing for the law school entrance exam. ...
Just before Greg moved to Yuma, the town had been stunned by reports that a priest who taught at the school in the 1970s had molested his students. The school's current principal was perhaps on a hair trigger from this and other disturbing disclosures of Catholic clergy abuse. In a tragic misunderstanding, the principal thought these girls were coming forward to report an incident on their own and didn't initially realize that Greg had sent them. She dialed the police. They interviewed the girls and eventually arrested Greg.
News that a teacher – Catholic and male – had been jailed on charges of molesting his students hit Yuma like a desert sandstorm. Greg voluntarily consented to a search of his apartment, hoping that if the police realized he had nothing to hide, they would know that they had made a dreadful mistake.
PIERRE (SD)
Argus Leader
JOE KAFKA
Associated Press
published: 03/12/05
PIERRE - A federal lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City, in which an Omaha man alleged he was sexually molested by priest in the 1960s, has been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Richard Battey ruled that Gerald P. Pecoraro missed the legal deadline to file the lawsuit. Under a three-year statute of limitations in South Dakota law, Pecoraro had until January 2004 to file, the judge said.
The lawsuit was not filed until Nov. 29, 2004.
According to the lawsuit, Pecoraro's father ran a bar in Omaha in the 1960s and raised money from the liquor industry for the Rev. Donald Murray and Sky Ranch for Boys in Harding County.
Murray was the ranch director but has since died.
In 1965, when Pecoraro was 14, his parents sent him to Sky Ranch and appointed Murray as his guardian.
INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
TheIndyChannel.com
POSTED: 1:17 pm EST March 12, 2005
INDIANAPOLIS -- A woman who accused a Roman Catholic priest of molesting her during the 1960s when he worked at a New Albany church has settled her lawsuit against the Indianapolis archdiocese.
The settlement was completed earlier this month when a joint statement by victim June L. Kochert and Archbishop Daniel Buechlein of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis was published in the March 4 edition of the archdiocesan newspaper.
The statement said the Archdiocesan Review Board substantiated the allegations against the Rev. John B. Schoettelkotte.
According to the statement, "Father Schoettelkotte subsequently resigned his post and has been barred from performing any priestly functions."
TENNESSEE
The Leaf-Chronicle
By REGAN LOYOLA HUNEYCUTT
The Leaf-Chronicle
It has been nearly three years since the Rev. LaMonte McNeese, founder of One Way Apostolic Assembly Church, was accused of rape and sexual battery.
Several motions and court hearings later, his ordeal ended Friday, with the state deciding to retire the three remaining charges against him.
Retiring charges — or dismissing them without prejudice — means the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office can bring those charges to trial in the future.
"I feel obviously relieved that this is over," McNeese said after the charges were retired. "I am angry, but I don't feel revengeful towards anybody."
McNeese's case was supposed to go to trial March 28 on three charges — two counts of child rape and one county of statutory rape — but the state Friday decided not to move forward. Assistant District Attorney Art Bieber asked Circuit Court Judge Michael Jones to retire the case because the alleged victim was too emotionally scarred from a November 2004 trial in Stewart County to participate in the Montgomery County proceedings.
STOCKTON (CA)
Modesto Bee
By AMY WHITE
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: March 12, 2005, 04:51:08 AM PST
STOCKTON — A Hughson woman suing two Modesto priests wrote to one of them saying she was in love with him, according to a letter read Friday in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The impact and meaning of that comment is yet to be determined in the woman's lawsuit against the St. Joseph's Catholic Church priests, the Catholic Diocese of Stockton and others associated with the diocese.
The lawsuit claims St. Joseph's pastor, the Rev. Joseph Illo, and diocese officials failed to deal properly with the woman's claims that another St. Joseph's priest, the Rev. Francis Arakal, had touched two of her daughters inappropriately. The alleged incidents occurred in July 2001 in the family's home.
A law enforcement investigation in 2002 concluded that there was insufficient evidence for criminal prosecution.
Defense attorneys assert that "retribution" is the motive behind the family's lawsuit, saying the mother was in love with Illo and was hurt when he broke off contact.
NEW YORK
Buffalo News
By DAN HERBECK
News Staff Reporter
3/12/2005
A Catholic priest arrested a year ago in his Varysburg rectory was sentenced Friday to three years and one month in federal prison for viewing child pornography over the Internet.
Rodney O. Personius, the attorney representing the Rev. Fred D. Ingalls, 56, said his client suffers from an "unfortunate addiction" to images of naked children.
Ingalls, who has been a priest for 30 years, was removed as pastor of St. Joseph Church in February 2004 after federal agents seized 144 images of child pornography from his computer in the church rectory.
"I would like to express my deep regret for what I've done," the soft-spoken priest, dressed in non-clerical garb, told U.S. District Judge John T. Elfvin. "I'm sorry."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin J. Littlefield had asked for a longer sentence, arguing that some of the seized images showed prepubescent children undergoing "sadistic and masochistic" abuse by adults. But the judge turned down the request.
BANGOR (ME)
Bangor Daily News
Saturday, March 12, 2005 - Bangor Daily News
BANGOR - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland unveiled Friday a new program designed to keep children safe from sexual predators and abusers. More than 75 religious educators, priests and lay leaders gathered at the St. John's campus of All Souls Catholic School to learn about the Child Lures Prevention program.
Created 20 years ago by a Vermont man, the curriculum is designed for children in kindergarten through grade 12 to increase sexual abuse awareness and prevention, said Bishop Richard J. Malone, who attended the session.
The program, to be implemented in Catholic schools and parish religious education programs throughout the state during the next school year, is expected to reach nearly 20,000 Catholic youth.
"I think people see it not only as a necessary program for abuse prevention in our schools and parishes," Malone said Friday, "but I think they see it as a sign of us moving forward. Maybe, somehow, spiritually it's almost an element of repentance ... for what has happened in the life of the church."
ARLINGTON (TX)
WFAA
01:51 AM CST on Saturday, March 12, 2005
By YOLANDA WALKER / WFAA-TV
A prominent North Texas pastor was arrested Friday, accused of sexually assaulting members of his own congregation.
Bishop Terry Hornbuckle of the Agape Christian Fellowship in Arlington is being held at the Tarrant County Jail on a bond of $400,000.
According to the indictments, most of the alleged incidents happened near the end of last July, involving three women - one of whom is a teenager.
On Sundays, Hornbuckle regularly preached words of encouragement to his congregation of 2,000 members. He may now need to lean on them for support.
"The grand jury did return four indictments today against Terry Hornbuckle," said Betty Arvin, assistant district attorney for Tarrant County.
The indictments say the 43-year old pastor, married with three children, sexually assaulted three of his members - one of them twice. According to two of the alleged victims, Hornbuckle led them to a Euless apartment complex under false pretenses. There, they said he fixed them a drink laced with GHB, the date-rape drug, and then took advantage of them.
Terry Hornbuckle Sheriff's deputies arrested Hornbuckle near his church at State Highway 360 and Mayfield on Friday afternoon.
ARLINGTON (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Anthony Spangler
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
ARLINGTON - The senior pastor of an Arlington church was arrested Friday afternoon, hours after a Tarrant County grand jury indicted him on four charges of sexual assault.
The Rev. Terry L. Hornbuckle, 43, of Colleyville is accused of sexually assaulting three women who were parishioners at Agape Christian Fellowship, 2350 E. Mayfield Road, where he serves as bishop. In two of the cases, he is accused of using date-rape drugs to overcome his victims. Hornbuckle has had no prior convictions in Tarrant County.
Hornbuckle was being held at Tarrant County Jail. Bail was set at $400,000.
The women filed personal-injury lawsuits against Hornbuckle in December. The Star-Telegram does not identify sexual assault victims. The lawsuits also name as defendants the church and eight members of the church's board.
"I think the grand jury's action today bolsters my clients' accusations," said the women's attorney, Gary Lee Finley. "We have the clothes that the girls were wearing and the DNA evidence. He is going to have a lot of explaining to do."
ARLINGTON (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas - The pastor of an Arlington nondenominational church was indicted on charges of sexually assaulting three women from his congregation.
The women say Terry L. Hornbuckle, 43, tried to entice them into sex by using his influence as minister of the Agape Christian Fellowship. Two of the women alleged Hornbuckle drugged them before sexually assaulting them.
Hornbuckle was arrested Friday on four counts of sexual assault.
Two of the cases involve the same woman, according to court officials.
Hornbuckle has denied the accusations and alleges the women are trying to extort money from him.
"I am completely innocent of the charges I have been wrongfully accused of, and this is extortion plain and simple, which I won't surrender to," Hornbuckle said in a statement released through a New York public relations firm.
SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Daily Herald
Mark Thiessen ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY -- A new memoir detailing alleged child sexual abuse in a prominent Mormon home has been discredited by both the church and the author's siblings.
It's one thing for any Mormon woman to say in public that she had been sexually abused, but it was quite another for Martha Beck, whose roots with the church date back to the beginning: Her great-great-grandfather
was the personal dentist for Joseph Smith, founder of what is now the nation's fifth-largest denomination.
The author of the best seller "Expecting Adam," the 42-year-old Beck also is the daughter of the late Brigham Young University professor emeritus of ancient scripture, Hugh Nibley.
In his role as a Mormon apologist, he was one of the church's leading authorities and chief defenders against intellectual attacks. His prolific writings now number 15 volumes of collected works, and will likely reach 20 volumes.
Beck chronicles her difficult and dramatic break from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, her spiritual quest and details confrontations she had with her father because of the alleged abuse in "Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith."
OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
ChannelOklahoma.com
POSTED: 8:24 pm CST March 11, 2005
UPDATED: 8:46 pm CST March 11, 2005
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The trial of a former Bethany youth minister accused of sexually abusing five young girls ended after just one witness.
Ryan Wonderly entered an Alford plea after the first prosecution witness testified. With an Alford plea, Wonderly doesn't admit guilt, but admits the evidence will likely lead to a conviction.
Wonderly faced 14 charges of inappropriately touching five girls ages 7 to 11 between 1997 and 2000 while he was a youth minister at First Bethany Church of the Nazarene.
OAKLAND (CA)
KTVU
POSTED: 9:03 pm PST March 11, 2005
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Jury selection will begin Monday in a lawsuit against the Diocese of Oakland by two former altar boys who allege that church leaders allowed a known pedophile priest to molest them in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Alameda County lawsuit and a separate suit starting up in San Francisco this week are the first two civil cases to reach trial under a 2002 state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on damage claims against institutions such as religious organizations that gave known child molesters access to more victims.
That law allowed victims of abuse dating back many years, even as far back as the 1930s, to file suit during a one-year window in 2003.
The case before Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard involves retired priest Robert Ponciroli of the Diocese of Oakland, who's accused of abusing former altar boys Bob Thatcher, now 34, and his brother Tom, now 37, at St. Ignatius in Antioch from 1979 to 1982. The suit alleges negligence by the Diocese of Oakland.
The San Francisco case involves the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard, a priest who worked for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in the 1960s and 70s. It was brought by Dennis Kavanaugh, a former student and parishioner at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in San Jose, where he alleges he was molested by Pritchard in 1972 and 1973 when Kavanaugh was 12 and 13 years old.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Post
By Kimball Perry
Post staff reporter
As a devout Catholic, it was tough for retired Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Nurre to hear the horror of sex abuse on minors by employees of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
"With my Catholic background and being Catholic all my life, it was a very difficult thing to do. Under those circumstances, it has an effect on you," said Nurre, who still hears cases as a visiting judge.
As a person, it was tough for Matt Garretson to share the hurt suffered by the victims of priest abuse.
"You would be inhuman if you didn't feel the pain they are feeling," said attorney Garretson, administrator of the fund established to financially compensate victims of abuse by archdiocese employees.
KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal
By Harold J. Adams
hjadams@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
A woman who was allegedly sexually abused by a priest at St. Mary Catholic Church in New Albany in the 1960s has settled her lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
The settlement was completed last week when a joint statement by victim June L. Kochert and Archbishop Daniel Buechlein was published in the March 4 edition of The Criterion, the archdiocesan newspaper.
The statement said the Archdiocesan Review Board substantiated the allegations against the Rev. John B. Schoettelkotte.
"Father Schoettelkotte subsequently resigned his post and has been barred from performing any priestly functions," said the statement in The Criterion.
The Courier-Journal was unable to contact Schoettelkotte. Susan Borcherts, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said yesterday, "I've known before that he doesn't want to talk, and I'm going to respect his privacy."
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
WORCESTER— Members of the Diocesan Review Committee are Sylvia Pusateri, chairwoman, lawyer; Judith Audette, M.S.W., director of Pathways; the Rev. Michael Broderick, pastor; Mr. Delisle; Dr. John Duggan, pediatrician; Claire Freda, Leominster city councilor; Sister Rose Clarisse Gadoury, S.S.A., faculty member, spiritual adviser at Blessed John XXIIIAbuse Tracker Seminary, Weston; David Higgins, committee vice chairman, retired executive director, Community Healthlink; Sister Paula Kelleher, S.S.J., Vicar for Religious, and member of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains; Bishop Harold Lohr, retired bishop, Northwestern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; John Madonna, Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologist; Mrs. Nugent, licensed clinical social worker; Monsignor F. Stephen Pedone, judicial vicar,Vicar for Canonical Affairs; the Rev. Rocco Piccolomini, vicar for clergy and secretary to the bishop; Elizabeth Reidy, L.I.C.S.W., family and child social work consultant; Eileen Scannell, retired worker, DSS; Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan, chancellor and vocations director; Monsignor Edmond T. Tinsley, fiscal affairs director and chaplain at McAuley Nazareth Home of Boys; and Sister Mary Lou Walsh, S.N.D., promoter of justice for the diocesan tribunal.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw Telegram & Gazette Staff
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The Diocesan Review Committee of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester has made changes in how it will deal with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy or diocesan workers and has set procedures for reporting past abuse.
Bishop Robert J. McManus also announced this week that the Rev. George J. Ridick, now pastor of St. Catherine of Sweden Parish, has been appointed liaison of priests on leave. Rev. Ridick holds advanced degrees in theology and psychology.
Eight priests have been placed on administrative leave since 2002 when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, and others are on leave after allegations were made in previous years. The policy states that, in accordance with canon law, priests on leave will continue to receive support from the diocese.
According to the new policy, anyone alleging they were abused years ago as minors, but are now adults, should call the Office for Healing and Prevention at (508) 929-4363 to begin the reporting process.
In addition, anonymous complaints will not be viewed as showing “reasonable cause to believe abuse has occurred,” according to the new policy.
Raymond L. Delisle, spokesman for the diocese and a member of the review committee, said two areas were addressed in the updated policy to reflect changes made since the policy was issued in 2002. The areas include the format of the Initial Review Committee and a more “defined role” of the liaison to accused priests.
During the 1990s, the Initial Review Committee met with people seeking to file a complaint of past sexual abuse. The committee consisted of most members of the review committee, two of whom received any allegations from complainants about abuse.
Since that policy was issued, the Office of Healing and Prevention was established under direction of Patricia O’Leary Engdahl, and the diocese now has a victim services coordinator who works through that office.
The new policy drops the use of the special committee name and limits its members’ participation in receiving complaints. Instead, complaints are now received by the victim services coordinator, Frances Nugent, or if unavailable another clinical social worker or an equivalent from the Diocesan Review Committee.
The position of liaison to accused priests was included in the 2002 policy, but the updated policy elaborates on the job to clarify the responsibilities of those who are involved.
According to the updated policy, the role of the Diocesan Review Committee is to review allegations of sexual abuse of minors made against any diocesan worker, whether clergy or layperson. The committee is also to assist the bishop with ongoing development of pastoral care guidelines for alleged victims and to inform the bishop and other committee members of canonical or civil actions.
The review committee will be overseen by a Policy Review Board made up of people selected by the bishop from diverse backgrounds. The review committee chairman is to act as liaison between the review committee and the policy committee.
If someone makes a complaint against a member of a religious order, the diocesan Vicar for Clergy will report the allegations to the person’s major superior in the order, according to the policy.
“I am grateful for the work of the Diocesan Review Committee in strengthening this policy,” Bishop McManus said, “as we continue to commit to the process of healing for those who have been abused in the past and protecting those in our care to the best of our ability now and into the future. I also extend my appreciation to Father Ridick in taking on this important role as my liaison to those who have been accused of abuse.”
According to the policy, the bishop or his liaison “will reach out to the accused, meeting with them to ascertain ways in which the Diocese would be able to assist them.”
Communication will be maintained and rehabilitation will be offered if the accused person chooses such a program. The accused will also be referred to professionals for evaluation and treatment, support groups or other treatment resources.
Daniel E. Dick, victim support coordinator for Voice of the Faithful, has asked for a meeting with the review board to discuss some ideas that he and some alleged victims of clergy abuse have to offer. He has suggested that he and one or two alleged victims sit down with the board. Mr. Dick has proposed a restorative justice program that he said is in compliance with the bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Bishop McManus has promulgated the new policy as particular law for the Diocese of Worcester, and it took effect Thursday.
LOUISIANA
The Advocate
By BARBARA SCHLICHTMAN
bschlichtman@theadvocate.com
Advocate religion and youth editor
Catholic Bishop Robert Muench made what survivors of sexual abuse called "an impressive commitment" Wednesday to eradicating sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy and religious.
Muench led the Lenten vesper service at St. Joseph Cathedral. He dedicated the prayers to survivors and victims of clergy sexual abuse.
During his homily, Muench encouraged worshippers to join him in doing everything "humanly and spiritually" possible to eradicate the sin and crime of sexual abuse, especially abuse perpetrated by clergy or religious.
"I also express my own apology and sorrow," said Muench who acknowledged the ripple effect of such abuse in terms of pain among families and friends.
"We pray for the suffering and also that no one else will suffer," he said.
WYOMING
WGRZ
Posted by: Maria Sisti, Assignment Editor
Created: 3/11/2005 4:26:45 PM
Updated: 3/11/2005 5:01:53 PM
Saying he's sorry and he's learned to come to grips with his problem, a Wyoming County priest Friday was sent to jail for the next three years.
The sentence follows a guilty plea in June by the Reverand Fred Ingalls, 56, to one count of possessing child pornography. Father Ingalls was serving as temporary administrator at St. Joseph Parish in Varysburg and St. Cecilia Church in Sheldon at the time of his arrest in February, 2004.
Father Ingalls admitted to possessing 144 images of child pornography which he had downloaded to his computer. An investigation by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed he accessed and purchased access to the images from the internet and viewed them with his computer at his residence at St. Joseph's Church.
Reverand Ingalls continues to take part in a diocesan treatment program. According to a spokesperson for the diocese, it is unlikely he will be able to function as a priest ever again.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Greg Roberts
March 12, 2005
SHE was responsible for the resignation of a governor-general and the first defrocking of an Australian bishop, but Beth Heinrich still has to face her demons.
"What happened to Peter Hollingworth and Donald Shearman hasn't helped me," Heinrich says. "I'm still hurting. The hurt is not going to go away until Donald Shearman does the right thing and issues the public apology that he owes me."
Speaking to Inquirer this week from the home of a Sydney friend, Heinrich, 65, leaves no doubt of the bitterness she feels towards Shearman, 78, the disgraced former bishop who was stripped of his holy orders by the Anglican Church last August over his treatment of her.
"I can't forgive him for what he did and I can't forgive Peter Hollingworth for protecting him," she says.
Shearman has admitted to a sexual relationship with Heinrich when she was a boarder in the mid-1950s at a church school in the central-western NSW town of Forbes, where he was the curate. It began when she was 14 and ended when she was 17. A few years later, aged 32, Shearman was consecrated as Australia's youngest bishop.
MEXICO
IPS
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, Mar 11 (IPS) - Some 50,000 followers of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic congregation founded in Mexico and viewed with favour by the Vatican, will set out later this month to distribute donations and doctrine to the poor in 31 different countries -- while fervently striving to defend their founder, accused of pedophilia.
The Legionaries tend to recruit their members from wealthy families and are openly endorsed by Pope John Paul II.
During the upcoming Holy Week, Mar. 20-27, thousands of young people from the Legionaries-sponsored Missionary Youth and Families organisation will take part in a so-called ”Megamission”, bringing ”spiritual” and material aid, like medical supplies, to poor communities around the world.
This initiative ”is a wide-reaching strategy for social penetration by one of the most conservative congregations in the Catholic Church, along with Opus Dei, and thus one of the most highly blessed by the Pope,” Mexican academic and religious expert Pablo Mora told IPS.
PIERRE (SD)
Aberdeen News
JOE KAFKA
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. - A federal lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City, in which an Omaha, Neb., man alleged he was sexually molested by priest in the 1960s, has been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Richard H. Battey ruled that Gerald P. Pecoraro missed the legal deadline to file the lawsuit. Under a three-year statute of limitations in South Dakota law, Pecoraro had until January 2004 to file, the judge said.
The lawsuit was not filed until Nov. 29, 2004.
According to the lawsuit, Pecoraro's father ran a bar in Omaha in the 1960s and raised money from the liquor industry for the Rev. Donald Murray and Sky Ranch for Boys in Harding County.
Murray was the ranch director but has since died.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Oyster Bay Enterprise-Pilot
By D.F. Karppi
About 100 parishioners of St. Dominic R.C. Church held a vigil on Sunday, Feb. 27, outside the church on the corner of Anstice Street. Police cars were there to see that things were done properly, said Rich Cieciuch, a Eucharistic minister.
St. Dominic parishioners stood outside the church on Sunday, Feb. 27 in a vigil to help the church heal.
He said of the vigil, "It was a prayerful experience." He explained it was an information gathering project. "The Voice of the Faithful, a national organization, has a project called The Lost Sheep. They and SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) came to pray in the parish and to make an appeal to anyone who has experienced sexual abuse by teachers, clergy or priests, to speak out, so we can have everything come out to see the scope of the problem and to see where the church will go. We realize the damage done to those people [children who have been abused] and that it leads to breakdowns and suicide."
SNAP's healing model is that both survivors and the institution that hurt them must be healed. It focuses on helping individuals and changing the church that allowed the abuse. Monsignor Alesandro said in a printed statement, "The group of visitors who offered prayers outside of St. Dominic's Church two weekends ago hope to raise the consciousness of all people about the importance of reaching out to silent victimes of abuse. They have held similar prayer vigils in several other areas of Long Island.
MARYLAND
Gazette
by Jill Murphy
Staff Writer
March 10, 2005
Former priest Frank Benham was sentenced last week to 18 months in jail for sexually abusing two young members of two county parishes in the late 1970s.
"He has been free for the past 25 years while I have been carrying my cross," Matthew Ponton, a victim, said during Benham's sentencing hearing. Ponton met Benham as a teenager at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Beltsville.
Statements read in court by the victims and their mothers convinced county Circuit Court Judge Michelle Hotten to mandate the maximum sentence allowed under the plea agreement struck with the State's Attorney's Office in December.
The victims agreed to the plea bargain, which suspended all but 18 months of Benham's possible 20-year sentence, to be followed by three years of probation. The agreement also required Benham to register on the national sex offenders' list and to abstain from contact with anyone under the age of 18, state's attorney spokesman Ramon Korionoff disclosed.
Orlando Sentinel
By Roger Moore | Sentinel Movie Critic
Posted March 11, 2005
Catholic Church scandals are hardly the stuff of major motion pictures here in the States. They find their way to the front page, play out over a news cycle, and drop off the radar. You have to go back to Godfather Part 3, Monsignor and other films of 15 or more years ago to find serious attempts at building a Hollywood movie around wrongdoing by priests and bishops.
But in Roman Catholic countries they're still hot stuff. Remember the uproar over Ireland's Priest, or The Crime of Padre Amaro in Mexico? Pedro Almodovar thought church-abuse scandals would make a fine subtext for his latest, Bad Education.
Conspiracy of Silence is the latest Irish outrage, an over-the-top attack on church-celibacy rules, the price paid by pretending priests don't have sex , and the extremes (at least in the movies) that the Vatican and its bishops will go to in keeping this dirty little secret from the faithful.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 11, 2005
The former pastor of a Point Loma Roman Catholic church was granted probation yesterday after pleading guilty in February to 10 misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography.
The Rev. Gary Holtey, 59, was not required to appear in San Diego Superior Court for his sentencing and did not, even though his attorney said he was back in San Diego after having spent the past five months in a sex offender treatment program on the East Coast.
One of the conditions of Holtey's probation requires that he complete a year-long offender program. Deputy City Attorney Timothy Campen said Holtey has already completed 24 weeks of a program approved by the probation department in Silver Spring, Md., and that it is expected he will complete treatment at the same location.
Holtey went on leave from St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church and Academy shortly after federal agents and San Diego police raided his parish office May 6.
At the time of Holtey's guilty plea last month, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said Holtey has been permanently removed from the ministry.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBCSanDiego.com
POSTED: 6:40 pm PST March 10, 2005
UPDATED: 7:43 pm PST March 10, 2005
SAN DIEGO -- A priest who admitted possessing child pornography received a sentence of probation.
Gary Holtey was the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Point Loma. Agents investigating child-porn Web sites raided his office last year.
Holtey pleaded guilty to 10 counts. He will have to register as a sex offender and needs to stay in a treatment program for a year. He was also ordered to have no contact with children and is forbidden to own a computer.
ST. GEORGE (UT)
Chicago Tribune
Tribune news services
Published March 11, 2005
ST. GEORGE, Utah -- The attorneys general of Utah and Arizona have told a two-state town hall meeting that they would not target polygamists solely for practicing plural marriage. Their remarks drew an angry reaction from opponents of polygamy, who said the practice is criminal and the law should be enforced.
Still, Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff and Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard said they would pursue criminal charges against those involved in forced or underage marriages, sexual abuse and welfare and tax fraud.
The meeting last week drew both polygamous families and those who oppose the practice
Polygamists say they have a 1st Amendment right to practice plural marriage because it's part of their religion. They also say they've been unfairly targeted by prosecutors because they're different.
Shurtleff rejected the claim.
"It's never been about religion, but we certainly won't sit back and let people commit crimes," he said.
The meeting was about 50 miles from the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., which are dominated by the several-thousand-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints--one of the largest polygamous sects.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 11, 2005) — There's no evidence that a Catholic priest accused Thursday of possessing child pornography ever engaged in sexual contact with minors, according to federal prosecutors and his defense attorney.
Federal prosecutors charged the Rev. Michael Volino, 41, with interstate transport of child pornography and possession of child pornography. They allege that he had hundreds of images of child pornography on a computer.
Volino's attorney, John Parrinello, said Volino intends to plead not guilty. At Volino's first court appearance Thursday, where a plea was not required, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman placed Volino under house arrest with electronic monitoring.
Volino is staying at an individual's house while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester tries to arrange housing as he awaits trial.
Feldman also prohibited Volino from interaction with minors.
Parrinello said after the hearing that society, because of the allegations nationwide of priest abuse of minors, could be in an era of "priest-mania," with the public overly and unfairly suspicious of priests.
HAYWARD (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Ivan Delventhal
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
HAYWARD - In a tentative ruling that could expose the Diocese of Oakland to significantly increased financial liability, an Alameda County judge on Thursday opened the door to a potential punitive damage award in a recently begun clergy sex abuse trial.
The ruling came in a civil lawsuit filed by Robert Thatcher against the diocese over molestation he and his brother, Tom, claim they suffered at the hands of former priest Robert Ponciroli at St. Ignatius Church in Antioch.
The Thatchers' suit alleges the diocese acted intentionally and with "reckless and conscious disregard of the safety of St. Ignatius altar boys" when it named Ponciroli pastor of that church. Robert Thatcher suffered severe emotional distress as a result, the suit states.
"As alleged, the conduct of the church is outrageous, oppressive and malicious," Judge Harry Sheppard said in explaining his tentative ruling. "And it was done with a conscious disregard for the persons they were entrusted to protect, being children."
The tentative ruling, if it becomes final, is significant because punitive damages, which are meant to punish a defendant for reprehensible behavior, could dramatically increase the monetary award in the case. It could also mean Robert Thatcher's attorney will present evidence of Ponciroli's history of abuse and of the diocese covering up the behavior.
HAYWARD (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Friday, March 11, 2005
Calling the Catholic Church's conduct "outrageous, oppressive and malicious," an East Bay judge ruled Thursday that two alleged sexual abuse victims may seek punitive damages against the Diocese of Oakland.
The tentative ruling by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard was another setback for the church, which faces hundreds of other damage claims across the state.
This case and a lawsuit being heard in San Francisco are the first two trials stemming from a 2002 state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for molestation victims seeking damages against organizations that gave known child molesters access to more victims.
Sheppard presides over a case brought by two brothers, Bob and Tom Thatcher, who say the Diocese of Oakland allowed them to be molested by a known pedophile priest, the Rev. Robert Ponciroli.
At a morning hearing in Hayward, Sheppard said that Thatchers' attorneys can seek punitive damages from a jury that is scheduled to be selected early next week.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
blade staff writer
A nearly three-month delay in getting Bishop Leonard Blair's letter of apology to parishioners at a West Toledo Catholic parish has cost a church secretary her job.
Patti Roshak resigned yesterday from her post, which she held for five years at St. Pius X Church, after a controversy arose over her handling of the letter apologizing for alleged abuse by a former associate pastor.
No one would say whether Ms. Roshak was forced to step down, but the Rev. Jim Sanford, the parish's pastor, said he had no choice but to accept her resignation.
"It's real tough because she's a nice person, but she made a mistake that caused too much hurt to too many people," Father Sanford said.
In December, the letter from Bishop Blair was hand-delivered to the church office on Carskaddon Avenue. It extended an apology to Teresa Bombrys, one of several women who accused former priest Chet Warren of abusing them when they were younger.
Mr. Warren was removed from his ministry.
WORCESTER (MA)
WTAG
The Diocesan Review Committee of the Diocese of Worcester releasing an updated Policy dealing with protection of minors against sexual abuse - Diocese spokesman Ray Delisle tells WTAG - that the Church has an office for healing and prevention and a full time victims services co-ordinator - and a new position has been established to have a priest act as a liason with the priests on le. Theave complete report is available on line at www.worcesterdiocese.org
ST. CLOUD (MN)
St. Cloud Times
By David Unze
dunze@stcloudtimes.com
A Stearns County judge has dismissed Bishop John Kinney from a lawsuit accusing a former St. Cloud Diocese priest of sexual abuse.
The ruling this week by Stearns County District Court Judge Elizabeth Hayden means the diocese and James Thoennes remain defendants in the lawsuit filed by Wayne Eller.
Eller's attorney and the diocese previously agreed to two settlement options. Hayden's ruling triggers the higher of the two monetary settlements from the diocese, said Jeff Anderson, the attorney representing Eller.
Roger Schmitt, an attorney representing the diocese, said the diocese was reviewing Hayden's ruling and said it was too early to know whether it would appeal. He wouldn't disclose the settlement amount.
HAYWARD (CA)
CBS 5
03/11/05 12:25 PST
HAYWARD (BCN)
Jury selection will begin Monday in a lawsuit against the Diocese of Oakland by two former altar boys who allege that church leaders allowed a known pedophile priest to molest them in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The Alameda County lawsuit and a separate suit starting up in San Francisco this week are the first two civil cases to reach trial under a 2002 state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on damage claims against institutions such as religious organizations that gave known child molesters access to more victims.
That law allowed victims of abuse dating back many years, even as far back as the 1930s, to file suit during a one-year window in 2003.
The case before Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard involves retired priest Robert Ponciroli of the Diocese of Oakland, who's accused of abusing former altar boys Bob Thatcher, now 34, and his brother Tom, now 37, at St. Ignatius in Antioch from 1979 to 1982. The suit alleges negligence by the Diocese of Oakland.
CALIFORNIA
North Bay Bohemian
By Hank Mattimore
Let's be clear where I stand on the subject of priests sexually abusing kids. It's not just "inappropriate" or even "unacceptable." The sexual abuse of children, especially when done by a person in a position of trust, is abhorrent. It is a betrayal of trust of the worst kind. As a parent and now a grandparent, I am appalled that this kind of behavior was allowed to continue in the church I love.
All this has been said more eloquently than I have expressed it. Outrage at the behavior of abusive priests and silent bishops has been shouted from the housetops, and (finally) the cries of victims and parents and the Catholic in the pew are being heard. Bishops are no longer able to protect offending priests from legal sanctions. Structures have been set up in every parish in the country to make sure that this never happens again.
Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI official who in 2002 helped establish the Church's Office of Child and Youth Protection, recently announced that only 22 new cases involving abuse of minors surfaced during 2004. One can argue that even one new case is too many, but given the fact that there are over 50,000 priests in this country serving over 100 million Catholics, it appears that the protections put in place by the bishops and their lay Catholic associates are starting to produce results.
The victims of child abuse who have come forward at great emotional cost to confront their abusers and relive their childhood trauma deserve our gratitude. If parishes and schools are safer places today, it is because these victims of abuse had the courage to tell their stories.
ST. CLOUD (MN)
Grand Forks Herald
Associated Press
ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Bishop John Kinney was dismissed from a lawsuit that accuses a former St. Cloud Diocese priest of sexual abuse, and a Stearns County judge ruled there was no evidence Kinney knew the former priest was dangerous.
The diocese and former priest James Thoennes remain defendants in the lawsuit filed by Wayne Eller, according to this week's ruling by District Court Judge Elizabeth Hayden.
Roger Schmitt, an attorney for the diocese, said the diocese was reviewing the ruling and it's too early to know whether it would appeal, the St. Cloud Times reported in its Friday editions.
Eller's attorney, Jeff Anderson, said the diocese previously agreed to two settlement options and that the ruling triggers the higher of the two. Neither Schmitt nor Anderson would disclose the settlement amount, but Anderson called it "modest."
"This is a very important determination by the court for this survivor to put an end to this painful chapter of horror," said Anderson.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY RITA CIOLLI
STAFF WRITER
March 1, 2005
John L. Allen, the Rome correspondent for theAbuse Tracker and a leading observer of Vatican affairs, will be the featured speaker at the Voice of the Faithful's second convention in Melville on March 19.
Allen, a commentator for CNN andAbuse Tracker Public Radio, will give his insight into the election of the next pope. The conference's keynote speaker will be the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, a canon lawyer and expert witness in many clergy sex abuse cases, who will discuss how the scandal developed in the American Catholic Church. There will also be a panel discussion on the evolving roles of priests and the laity.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY DICK RYAN
Dick Ryan of West Islip is the author of "Holy Human: Stories of Extraordinary Catholics."
March 10, 2005
March 19 figures to be a huge success for the Long Island Voice of the Faithful for a number of reasons.
That's when it hosts its second major convention, this time featuring two heavyweight speakers, John H. Allen, the renowned Vatican-based correspondent for theAbuse Tracker , and the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a highly respected lawyer on church issues. There will also be a special panel to discuss the priesthood and the laity and a 3 p.m. Mass.
Naturally, these people won't be anywhere near the inside of a Catholic Church, banned as they are by Bishop William Murphy from even breathing outside the nearest bingo hall.
But for all their planning and preparation, the Voice of the Faithful goofed in one crucial area. There should have been a special invitation to the man who was the inspiration and impetus - along with his old friend Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston - for the creation of Voice of the Faithful. There should have been a special place at the table for a third speaker with the perfect credentials for the occasion: the leader of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
SOUTH AFRICA
News 24
10/03/2005 18:13 - (SA)
Bloemfontein - A 40-year-old Nigerian priest, charged with raping six schoolgirls, appeared in Clocolan magistrate's court on Thursday.
The priest was arrested on October 7 2004 after the girls said he had raped them at his mission in Hlohlolwane, Clocolan.
The case was postponed on Thursday to April 11 for further investigation.
A court official said the priest was still in custody.
At a previous appearance in February, the result of an appeal against a bail application dismissed last year was not available yet.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(March 10, 2005) — There’s no evidence that a Catholic priest accused today of possessing child pornography ever engaged in sexual contact with minors, according to federal prosecutors and his defense lawyer.
Federal prosecutors today charged the Rev. Michael Volino, 41, with interstate transport of child pornography and possession of child pornography. They allege that he had hundreds of images of child pornography on a computer.
Volino’s lawyer, John Parrinello, said Volino intends to plead not guilty. At his first court apperarance Thursday, where a plea was not required, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman placed Volino under house arrest with electronic monitoring. Volino is staying at an individual’s house while the Diocese of Rochester tries to arrange housing as he awaits trial.
Feldman also prohibited Volino from interaction with minors.
Parrinello said after the hearing that society, because of the allegations nationwide of priest abuse of minors, could be in an era of “priest-mania” with the public overly and unfairly suspicious of priests.
HAYWARD (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Ivan Delventhal
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
HAYWARD - In a tentative ruling issued today, an Alameda County Superior Court judge opened the door to a potential punitive damage award in a recently begun clergy sex abuse case.
The ruling came in connection with a lawsuit filed by Robert Thatcher, who along with his brother Tom sued the Diocese of Oakland over abuse they suffered at the hands of defrocked priest Robert Ponciroli.
"As alleged, the conduct of the church is outrageous, oppressive and malicious," Judge Harry Sheppard said in explaining his tentative ruling. "And it was done with a conscious disregard for the persons they were entrusted to protect, being children."
The tentative ruling, if it becomes final, is significant because punitive damages could dramatically increase the monetary award in the case.
Ponciroli served at St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch from 1980 until 1983. The Thatcher brothers served as altar boys at St. Ignatius from 1979 to 1981.
ROCHESTER (NY)
WSTM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. Federal authorities allege in court papers that a Rochester-area Catholic priest possessed child pornography and visited Web sites that trafficked in child pornography.
The Reverend Michael Volino was charged this morning with interstate receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
Child pornography was discovered by a technology specialist at the Diocese of Rochester who was repairing the 41-year-old priests computer.
That's according to an affidavit from the F-B-I.
Volino is a priest at Saint John the Evangelist Church of Greece.
The affidavit contends that Volino told the F-B-I that he had been involved in counseling for three years but had not stopped looking at child pornography.
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
3/10/2005 5:48:48 PM
The Cincinnati Fire Department has relieved its chaplain of his duties after revelations Wednesday that he had been accused of sex abuse.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati placed the Reverend Michael Paraniuk on administrative leave while it investigates the allegation.
Paraniuk spoke to 9News Wednesday and insisted he's innocent.
ALABAMA
al.com
3/10/2005, 2:02 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — The pastor of Bethel Holiness Church in Irvington has been arrested and charged with sodomizing and sexually abusing two boys who are related to him, authorities said.
Mobile County Sheriff's Department spokesman Christina Bowersox said Dennis Lamar Fields, 51, of Grand Bay was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of first-degree sodomy.
Fields was arrested about 6 p.m. Tuesday and taken to Mobile County Metro Jail. He was released Wednesday on $30,000 bond.
A Mobile Register reporter who went to Fields' mobile home was met by a woman who appeared to be in her 30s. She said the family had no comment on the charges against Fields and ordered the reporter off the property.
Fields is accused of molesting a boy who now is 10 or 11 years old and a man, now 27 years old, who was a child at the time Fields allegedly abused him.
FRESNO (CA)
Fresno Bee
By Doug Hoagland / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Thursday, March 10, 2005, 6:05 AM)
A national Catholic group charged with addressing the clergy sexual abuse crisis says the Diocese of Fresno is complying after all with a new nationwide policy to protect children.
But only a month ago, the Office of Child & Youth Protection was reporting a different story.
The group reported in February that the Fresno diocese was one of four in the United States that wasn't fully meeting compliance requirements. But after further review and talks with Fresno officials, the group said the diocese's main problem was getting key information in on time.
The issue was, and continues to be, the Fresno diocese's competence in relaying information about clergy and volunteers working with children to the Office of Child & Youth Protection in Washington.
The diocese did not make information about clergy and volunteers available in "a useful or satisfactory way" before a Dec. 31 deadline, said Sheila Kelly, interim director of the office. Added Kelly: "If the information that they had, had been provided to the auditors by December 31, they would have been found to be in compliance."
HAYWARD (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Attempts by the Catholic Church to limit evidence and witnesses in a key sexual abuse coverup trial were rejected Wednesday by an East Bay judge.
The rulings by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard put new pressure on the Diocese of Oakland to settle a damages suit by two former altar boys who say church leaders allowed a known pedophile priest to molest them in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Church lawyers have already admitted the diocese was negligent in its 1979 promotion of the Rev. Robert Ponciroli to pastor of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch.
Now the issue is whether the church is guilty of "intentional infliction of emotional distress."
Sheppard has yet to rule on that key point, but his decision could result in punitive damages and a much higher award to the plaintiffs in the case, Bob Thatcher, 34, of Phoenix, and his brother, Tom, 37, of Winter Springs, Fla.
GREECE
Kathimerini
An Athens prosecutor was instructed yesterday to bring criminal charges against a medium-ranking judge suspected of involvement in a trial-fixing ring made up of members of the judiciary and the Orthodox clergy.
The process was launched against court of first instance president Evangelos Kaloussis, who testified yesterday before Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas in connection with allegations he took bribes to issue favorable decisions and sexually exploited young immigrant women.
A second key trial-fixing suspect, Archimandrite Iakovos Yiossakis, gave testimony at the same time to Supreme Court judge Christos Baltas. ...
In a claim that would clear the name of Archbishop Christodoulos — who denies any link with the disgraced priest — Yiossakis also maintained that he had pressed Theoklitos, Bishop of Thessaliotis, (who has been forced to resign) to ask the Church of Greece leader to give him a plum Church job. It is understood that the prospect of Yiossakis getting the job, which would normally have eventually secured him a bishopric, drove senior churchmen to leak stories to the press that prompted the trial-fixing investigation.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati suspended three priests Wednesday because of accusations they abused children in the 1970s and 1980s.
Church officials said the decision to suspend the priests - Michael Paraniuk, Stanley Doerger and David Vincent - came after an independent tribunal awarded compensation payments earlier this week to their accusers.
Paraniuk is chaplain at Children's Hospital Medical Center, Doerger worked for years at St. Rita's School for the Deaf and Vincent is a former teacher at Elder High School.
All three have denied the allegations, and one complained Wednesday that it was unfair to base his suspension on the tribunal's decision to pay his accuser.
"I'm not saying this person wasn't abused, but it wasn't by me," Paraniuk said. "I never met the accuser, I don't know the accuser and I never ministered to the accuser. I am innocent."
HAYWARD (CA)
Monterey Herald
By RANDY MYERS
Contra Costa Times
HAYWARD - Building on the Diocese of Oakland's admission it acted negligently in the matter of a priest who sexually abused altar boys decades ago, a civil trial opening in Alameda County Superior Court took a new direction Wednesday.
At issue now is whether the church acted intentionally or just negligently.
"The only issue that remains in dispute in this trial is the nature and extent of the plaintiff's damages," according to one document church lawyers filed this week.
Robert Thatcher, one of two brothers suing the diocese over their treatment while they served as altar boys at St. Ignatius from 1979 to 1981, is seeking punitive and other damages from the diocese.
In the second day of a civil trial, Alameda County Judge Harry Sheppard heard 13 motions filed by church attorneys. Many were linked to whether the church "targeted" altar boys in its response to abuse complaints brought by parishioners against former priest Robert Ponciroli.
STOCKTON (CA)
Modesto Bee
By AMY WHITE
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: March 10, 2005, 05:26:59 AM PST
STOCKTON — A mother testified Wednesday that she heard one of her daughters cry out in their Hughson house one day in July 2001, and discovered a visiting priest leaning over the young teenager.
"He threw his hands up in the air and said, 'I didn't do anything!'" the woman said in San Joaquin County Superior Court, where a jury is hearing the family's civil lawsuit against the priest and others associated with St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto and the Catholic Diocese of Stockton.
The girl, then 13 and now 17, testified Tuesday that the Rev. Francis Arakal "grabbed" one of her breasts during that visit in 2001. One of her sisters, now 13, testified Wednesday that she saw the touching, and said the contact occurred over her sister's clothing.
The younger girl said Arakal touched one of her upper thighs, also over clothing. The alleged contact with the girls came during a tickle fight.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims the diocese and St. Joseph's pastor, the Rev. Joseph Illo, failed to deal appropriately with the allegations.
CINCINNATI (OH)
ChannelCincinnati.com
POSTED: 12:22 am EST March 10, 2005
UPDATED: 7:53 am EST March 10, 2005
CINCINNATI -- One of three priests suspended by the Cincinnati archdiocese Wednesday proclaimed his innocence and said the archbishop told him face to face that he didn't believe the allegation.
Father Michael Paraniuk said the allegation that he abused a man in 1983 was investigated three times and was never substantiated, News 5's John London reported.
Paraniuk said Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk told him last week he didn't believe the accusation.
"Archbishop Pilarczyk looked at me and said, 'I think you're innocent.' But I have to suspend you because money was awarded. We have to take this to the next level."
The archdiocese said it was required to suspend Paraniuk, Stanley Doerger and David Vincent after an independent panel awarded money to their accusers from a victim's fund.
Paraniuk said it was his idea to give money to his accuser.
"I made the suggestion." Parakiuk said. "I said, 'Give him money.' If it makes him feel better and brings this to closure for me, then we could get on with our lives, I said, 'Give him money.'
"But I'm telling you, I am innocent. I did not do this."
IRVINGTON (AL)
Mobile Register
Thursday, March 10, 2005
By RON COLQUITT
Staff Reporter
The 51-year-old pastor of Bethel Holiness Church in Irvington was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with sodomizing and sexually abusing two boys who are related to him, authorities said.
Dennis Lamar Fields of Grand Bay was charged with two counts of first-degree sex ual abuse and two counts of first-degree sodomy, said Mobile County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Christina Bowersox.
He was arrested about 6 p.m. Tuesday and taken to Mobile County Metro Jail, where he was released Wednesday on bail totaling $30,000.
A Mobile Register reporter who went to Fields' mobile home Wednesday afternoon in the 10000 block of Lockwood Drive in Grand Bay was confronted by a woman who appeared to be in her 30s.
She said the family had no comment on the charges against Fields and ordered the reporter off the property.
CANADA
CBC
Catholic diocese of St. George's is trying to avoid paying adequate compensation by declaring bankruptcy.
Randy Johnston is one of 36 young men who were sexually abused by Father Kevin Bennett. A court found Bennett guilty of sexual abuse in 1990.
The victims are suing the Episcopal Corporation of St. George's. But the Roman Catholic diocese is filing for bankruptcy protection.
The diocese claims it is filing for bankruptcy protection in order to give sexual abuse victims the best compensation package.
But Johnston says it's just another way for the church to avoid paying up.
"I'm not going to sit down and negotiate something that I've been victimized over and over with," he says. "There's a set amount set and they got to pay it, and it's time to get it over with. If they don't have the money, declare bankruptcy, and we'll take over the churches, and we'll take over the land, and we'll sell it."
TUCSON (AZ)
KOLD
TUCSON, Ariz. To payoff sexual abuse claims, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson is expected to sell 85 properties.
Most are expected to be sold through a public auction.
The chief executive officer of Tucson Realty and Trust says they've been retained by the diocese to sell the properties.
The exact parcels and details are still be worked out and must be ultimately decided by a judge overseeing the diocese's Chapter Eleven bankruptcy case.
The land sale is expected to be in late May or early June, possibly in a live, public auction.
LIMA (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
The Associated Press
LIMA - An appeals court ruled that a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati can continue even though the deadline for filing it was missed.
Ohio's 3rd District Court of Appeals said the statute of limitations should not apply because the archdiocese did not tell authorities about the alleged abuse and concealed it.
The ruling released Monday reversed a Shelby County Common Pleas Court decision to throw out the lawsuit because the alleged victim did not file it within two years after turning 18.
The archdiocese will appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, spokesman Dan Andriacco said.
The victim said he was abused as a minor by the Rev. Thomas Hopp of Cincinnati. Hopp admitted in 2002 that he abused the victim and was removed from ministry, Andriacco said.
"This is the only one that's gone against us, and we believe it was wrongly decided," he said.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Toledo Blade
COLUMBUS - A pair of Democratic senators yesterday called for greatly expanding the time window for victims of past and future abuse by clergy to file lawsuits against their abusers and those who shield them.
They hope to add the provision to a bill in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee mandating that any rabbi, priest, minister, other clergy, or laypersons acting on behalf of religious institutions report any abuse or neglect of a child.
The amendment, pushed by Sens. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) and Marc Dann (D., Youngstown), would expand the future statute of limitations for bringing a sexual abuse lawsuit from the current six years to 20 years. It would also open a one-year window for victims of past abuse to come forward and bring action, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.
Like current law, the time limit would not start running for a child until he turned 18.
CHARLESTON (SC)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 8:07 am EST March 10, 2005
UPDATED: 8:27 am EST March 10, 2005
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Additional abuse charges have been filed against a Roman Catholic priest who briefly worked in Charleston a quarter century ago.
The Rev. James Nyhan of Ipswich, Mass., was indicted by a Charleston County grand jury on Tuesday for an alleged 1979 incident. The new charges accuse Nyhan of second-degree assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct, which covers children aged 11 to 15, authorities said.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the charge. He also was indicted on a charge of committing a lewd act on a minor.
The local solicitor's office was planning this year to prosecute two other cases against Nyhan involving sex-abuse charges.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Post
By Kimball Perry
Post staff reporter
As victims of Archdiocese of Cincinnati priest sex abuse are receiving their financial compensation, three priests have been suspended due to information provided during the process of interviewing victims to determine eligibility for the $3 million fund.
The accusations that the three -- David Vincent, Stanley Doerger and Michael Paraniuk -- sexually abused minors were deemed plausible enough by the tribunal presiding over the fund to award their accusers compensation as victims.
"These were the only active priests of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati against whom claims were determined by the tribunal fund to be plausible," Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk noted Wednesday.
None of the three priests admit to the allegations but the tribunal -- two former judges and an experienced trial attorney -- deemed the accusations had a "semblance of truth." That is the designation that triggers removal of a priest from the ministry under U.S. Church law as the investigation continues.
All of the accusations presented to the tribunal have been presented to civil authorities.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw Telegram & Gazette Staff
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Daniel Dick, victim support coordinator for Voice of the Faithful in the Diocese of Worcester, has criticized the manner in which theAbuse Tracker Review Board, based in Washington, D.C., conducted its audit of the diocese to monitor compliance with the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Mr. Dick has also written to the local diocesan review board asking that he and at least one victim of clergy sexual abuse meet with the board while it does its own review of the charter. The charter expires this year and bishops and a number of groups, including Voice of the Faithful, are reviewing the charter to see what has worked and what might be improved.
In a letter to lawyer Sylvia L. Pusateri, who heads the review board, Mr. Dick said he believes he and the victims have “considerable experience” in dealing with clergy sexual abuse and that they have recommendations for improving the charter and audit process they want to present to the board.
The audit was done in December by the Gavin Group of Boston, on behalf of the review board. The board said recently that the Worcester diocese was in full compliance with the charter and no problems were found.
Mr. Dick said he called and sent an e-mail to the review board at theAbuse Tracker Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. He spoke with Sheila Kelly, deputy director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection. Ms. Kelly recently confirmed that she spoke with Mr. Dick, but said her agency does not discuss publicly specific issues brought to it.
Mr. Dick said he believes the local diocese has not complied with the charter in some areas.
“The general public of Worcester, including families and children, do not know where the convicted and accused abusers are living,” he said. He said the accused priests are “free to come and go as they please” and get a monthly stipend from the diocese.
“The claim that they are ‘supervised’ by their bishop is a hollow one,” he said.
Bishop Robert J. McManus is “not cooperating” with civil authorities as required by the charter, Mr. Dick said. He said the diocese is actively working to dismiss suits pending in Worcester Superior Court that were brought by alleged victims, rather than working to get settlements. He said the diocese is arguing that the bishop’s authority over clergy “supercedes that of our civil authority in such cases. Our general community is aghast at the gall exhibited by this submission.”
“A victim in this diocese is not allowed to talk with the bishop until he has ‘settled’ with the diocesan lawyer and the insurance company lawyer. A victim’s first real contact is with these lawyers, not with the bishop,” he said. Mr. Dick has served in the victim support role and has met with several alleged victims since the local VOTF chapter was formed in 2002.
Mr. Dick said Bishop McManus recently sent letters to some alleged victims offering to meet with them, but only a few people are known to have received the letters.
Mr. Dick, who favors establishment of a restorative justice program in this area to assist victims, said the charter calls for such a program.
“The Diocese of Worcester has rejected such a program, including the one that our local VOTF proposed over a year ago,” he said.
Mr. Dick asked the review board to “reinvestigate” information it was given by the Worcester Diocese. “You are not getting the whole story or the whole truth,” Mr. Dick said. He suggested that the auditors speak to lay people of the diocese and to members of VOTF and Call to Action, two organizations of Catholic lay people.
Diocesan spokesman Raymond L. Delisle said, “Mr. Dick’s concerns revolved around two points. First, he is concerned with a process agreed to by nearly 200 dioceses around the country, which was seen as a major step forward in demonstrating how dioceses are addressing this issue.”
Mr. Delisle said the Worcester diocese agreed with the process “and complied with it for two audits in a row.”
“If having reviewed all records under the scrutiny of two different sets of former FBI agents is not credible enough for some, then I would suggest that no action will be sufficient for them. For most people, this is seen as complying in good faith,” Mr. Delisle said.
“Secondly, he seems to lack confidence in our own civil authorities, since all allegations we have received have been turned over to the district attorney. It is up to civil authorities to assess any risks and respond within the laws of this commonwealth. Is anyone asking that the church act above the law? Or that society not afford the same laws to clergy as it does to other citizens who have been accused of wrongdoing but who for whatever reason have not been tried in court?” Mr. Delisle asked.
“Mr. Dick seems to confuse civil and criminal cases by implying that we are trying to avoid civil authorities in civil suits. Beyond that, each civil case is addressed individually according to its own circumstances. There are not, nor have there ever been, criminal cases against the Diocese of Worcester,” he added.
“Finally, the audit process confirms that we are focused on promoting healing. To that end, the Office of Healing and Prevention has done a great deal working with victims. That work has been led by a victim services coordinator who is a clinical social worker with decades of experience and who is highly regarded by all agencies in Central Massachusetts. Since we comply with the charter in all areas, and have for two audits, perhaps it is Mr. Dick who is misunderstanding how justice is promoted through the charter.
Additionally, all victims who come to the diocese have met with a team who are members of the Diocesan Review Committee in presenting their complaint,” Mr. Delisle said.
Mr. Dick said he has also asked Bishop McManus to turn over the working materials used in the audit.
He said Ms. Kelly told him the American bishops are not of one mind on implementation of the charter but that implementation is up to each bishop. Ms. Kelly said she would take his recommendation to the full review board and get back to him, Mr. Dick said.
Mr. Dick said he intends to ask Bishop McManus to turn over the diocese’s 2004 audit “in its entirety,” along with results of the first audit done in 2003.
CANADA
The Chronicle Herald
PICTOU (CP) - A man has filed suit against a Roman Catholic priest over allegations of sexual abuse in Pictou County three decades ago.
The man, who now lives in the Annapolis Valley area, filed a statement of claim Wednesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court against Rev. Claude Richard and the Catholic Episcopal Corp. of Antigonish.
INDIA
New Kerala
[India News]: Ahmedabad, Mar 8 : A Christian missionary was arrested for allegedly demanding sexual favours from a woman , police said here today.
Fr Prasad Gonsalves, head of the Catholic mission in Radhanpura town, was arrested yesterday on the basis of the victim's complaint that he had demanded sexual favours from her, Patan police superintendent A V Vasava told PTI.
The victim alleged in her FIR that the Jesuit priest had promised to give her a house if she converted and also made obscene demands around three months ago.
INDIA
Zenit
RADHANPUR, India, MARCH 9, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Christians of the state of Gujarat have demanded the immediate release of a priest who was arrested Tuesday on false charges, says the Indian bishops' conference Web site.
Jesuit Father Prasad Gonsalves was arrested based on the trumped-up charges leveled against him by a middle-aged woman, Shantaben Gulabbhai, reported the episcopate Indian Catholic News Site.
The priest managed a project to build some 300 houses for homeless tribal people in Radhanpur, the heart of the arid areas of Banaskantha district in North Gujarat.
The arrest is connected with the housing project, according to a press release from Father Cedric Prakash, who runs a center for human rights in Ahmedebad.
Some time ago, Gulabbhai approached Father Gonsalves demanding that she too should have a new house in Anand, almost 300 kilometers (185 miles) away, where she also apparently lives.
OHIO
Dayton Daily News
By Tom Beyerlein
Dayton Daily News
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati announced Wednesday that it has suspended three more priests — two of them with strong ties to the Dayton area — after an independent panel found substance in child sexual-abuse allegations against them.
Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk suspended David P. Vincent and Stanley Doerger, both of whom have served Miami Valley parishes, and Michael Paraniuk of Cincinnati after a tribunal decided that allegations involving them merited compensation of victims from a special fund.
Officials said the suspensions don't mean the priests are guilty. The three are the only active priests with plausible accusations against them, the tribunal decided, but all accusations have been reported to law enforcement, the archdiocese said.
"We believe this action is following the letter and the spirit of the very tough church law the U.S. Catholic Bishops approved in 2002," said Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the 19-county archdiocese serving 500,000 Catholics.
Their cases will now go to a review board that will recommend whether Pilarczyk should seek to have them defrocked under the bishops' zero-tolerance policy on child abuse, Andriacco said.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, March 10, 2005
A Suffolk Superior Court judge this week refused to dismiss abuse allegations by nine former students against more than a dozen priests and nuns who worked at the now-closed Boston School for the Deaf in Randolph.
Judge Margot Botsford rejected the defendants' argument that the claims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, which allegedly occurred from 1942 to 1977, are barred by the statute of limitations.
Botsford also allowed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint to include allegations that the school's policy of not teaching sign language and punishing students who signed resulted in ``social, cognitive and developmental delays which were the functional equivalent of mental retardation.''
CANADA
Catholic News Service
By Catholic News Service
CORNER BROOK, Newfoundland (CNS) -- The Diocese of St. George's has become the first Catholic diocese in Canada to seek bankruptcy protection as a result of sexual abuse claims.
Bishop Douglas Crosby of St. George's announced March 8 that his diocese took the action to help it come up with money to stave off bankruptcy threatened by $50 million in claims. The bishop said that by going into bankruptcy protection the diocese could develop a plan that would compensate the victims better than if it went bankrupt.
The stay of proceedings requested by the diocese lasts 30 days and can be extended at the court's discretion. During that time, the diocese is expected to develop a proposal for creditors. If the creditors, including the sex abuse claimants, refuse to accept it, the diocese will be automatically bankrupt, and a trustee will be appointed to liquidate its assets.
A year ago, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that St. George's Diocese was directly and vicariously liable for claims by 36 individuals. These claims flow out of the case of Kevin Bennett, a former priest of the diocese who was sentenced in 1990 to almost 20 years in prison for sexually abusing young men over a period of two decades. Bennett served four years in prison.
OHIO
WCPO
Reported and Web Produced by: I-Team
Updated: 03/09/05 17:45:46
Anchor, on set:
ABUSE VICTIMS FROM AROUND THE STATE APPEARED IN COLUMBUS TODAY TO SUPPORT A CHANGE IN OHIO LAW.
VICTIMS CLAIM THE CURRENT STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS PREVENTS THEM FROM PUNISHING THEIR ABUSERS... AND THE CHURCH LEADERS WHO PROTECTED THOSE ABUSIVE PRIESTS.
I-TEAM REPORTER LAURE QUINLIVAN WAS AT THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARING TODAY AND JOIINS US WITH THE LATEST.
Laure Quinlivan:
A CINCINNATI PSYCHOLOGIST TOLD LAWMAKERS TODAY THAT MOST VICTIMS OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE DON'T COME TO GRIPS WITH IT UNTIL THEY'RE IN THEIR 30'S. BY THEN, IT'S TOO LATE TO HOLD ABUSERS ACCOUNTABLE IN COURT. THAT'S WHY MANY SAY IT'S TIME TO CHANGE OHIO LAW.
(Christy Miller, victim) "All that I am asking for is my day in court."
CINCINNATI'S CHRISTY MILLER AND VICTIMS FROM AROUND THE STATE HELD UP PHOTOS TO SHOW LAWMAKERS HOW YOUNG THEY WERE WHEN CATHOLIC PRIESTS SEXUALLY ABUSED THEM.
IRELAND
One in Four
A former religious brother convicted of 180 charges of sexually abusing former pupils at a national school in Sligo has been jailed for eight years.
Christopher Cosgrove, of Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris in Co Mayo, pleaded not guilty to the offences committed against six boys at St John'sAbuse Tracker School in Sligo in the 1960s and 1970s.
Cosgrove was a Marist brother at the time and taught as Brother Christopher.
At Sligo Circuit Court today, Judge Anthony Kennedy said the number of offences was enormous and the cumulative effect of them gave this case its great seriousness.
MAINEVILLE (OH)
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
3/9/2005 10:41:33 AM
A Maineville pastor accused of sexually abusing at least six children is pleading no contest to some of the charges.
Claude "Steven" Harmon will be tried for rape and gross sexual imposition in April.
On Tuesday, the 47-year-old pastor of Maineville Baptist Church pled no contest to 11 other similar charges stemming from incidents that allegedly took place in his Maineville home as well as at the church.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Leaders of a Catholic watchdog group asked church leaders in Northern California on Tuesday to tell the faithful exactly what funds will be used to pay for anticipated, multimillion-dollar settlements or court judgments in the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
The call came as two days of court-ordered settlement talks in the East Bay ended with no apparent agreement over who will pay for the alleged coverup of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Northern California.
Meanwhile, court proceedings were expected to continue today in San Francisco and Hayward in the first two trials sparked by a wave of lawsuits filed under a 2002 state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on damage claims against organizations that gave known child molesters access to more victims.
At the Alameda County Superior Court building in Hayward, leaders of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of Catholic laity, waited in the hallway as lawyers for victims, the church and insurance companies negotiated behind closed doors.
"It's like a game of poker, but they are playing with our money," said Ed Gleason, the group's director for Northern California.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati suspended three priests today because of accusations of sexual abuse involving children.
Church officials said the decision to suspend the priests - Michael Paraniuk, Stanley Doerger and David Vincent - came after an independent tribunal awarded compensation payments earlier this week to their accusers.
The tribunal is responsible for evaluating claims of abuse and deciding how much, if any, money alleged victims are entitled to receive. The tribunal has sent checks totaling $3.2 million to 120 of the 134 people who filed claims.
Although tribunal members said they did not use a legal standard of proof in deciding the claims, church officials said the decision to award the accusers money convinced them to suspend the three priests.
Church officials said two of the priests, Paraniuk and Doerger, had been accused previously but neither allegation was found to have the "semblance of truth" that U.S. bishops have said is necessary to suspend priests.
CHARLESTON (SC)
Telegram & Gazette
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLESTON, S.C.— Additional abuse charges have been filed against a Roman Catholic priest who briefly worked in Charleston a quarter century ago.
The Rev. James Nyhan of Ipswich, Mass., was indicted by a Charleston County grand jury on Tuesday for an alleged 1979 incident. The new charges accuse Nyhan of second-degree assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct, which covers children aged 11 to 15, authorities said.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the charge. He also was indicted on a charge of committing a lewd act on a minor.
The local solicitor's office was planning this year to prosecute two other cases against Nyhan involving sex-abuse charges.
A statement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston said the church was unaware of a third alleged victim until now. The statement said Bishop Robert Baker "offers his prayers for healing to this victim and all those involved."
GRANBY (MA)
Daily Hampshire Gazette
BY KATHLEEN MELLEN STAFF WRITER
GRANBY - WHEN Robin Powell decided decades ago to convert from Congregationalist to Roman Catholic, he could not have imagined the turmoil that was in store for his newfound church.
The religion that he came to love through a childhood friend's family - a big, close family of Irish-Italian Catholics - intrigued him. He was fascinated by its history, its 2,000 years of tradition.
But now, after practicing the faith for 30 years, and raising his own 12 children as devout Catholics, he finds himself front and center in one of the darkest times in that long history.
MASSACHUSETTS
Daily Hampshire Gazette
BY KATHLEEN MELLEN STAFF WRITER
Setting up a review board that evaluates charges of sexual abuse by clergy and makes recommendations to the bishop is a step in the right direction, says an area lawyer who has represented dozens of victims. But, he adds, the Springfield diocese can do a better job of serving those hurt by predatory priests.
Greenfield lawyer John J. Stobierski, who has had about 10 clients appear before the board, says, for starters, the diocese should allow victims to bring attorneys to the board's hearings as the accused priests do. And, he says, the board should make public a list of priests against whom credible charges have been made.
Stobierski represented 45 people who agreed in 2004 to settle their sex-abuse claims against the Springfield diocese and accept a portion of a more than $7 million settlement.
He says the Dallas norms, the church law written by a gathering of bishops in 2002, requires the names of priests with credible charges against them to be made public, something he says the Springfield diocese has not done effectively.
''They should post the names on their Web site,'' he said. ''That would provide a sense of success for survivors.''
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
Last updated: 3/9/2005 12:58:05 PM
Three Tri-state priests have been placed on administrative leave due to the findings of the Fund Tribunal administering the $3 million archodiocese claim resolution compensation fund.
The three are:
Reverend Stanley Doerger -- pastor of Saint Bernard chuch in Taylor's creek.
Reverend Michael Paraniuk -- chaplain at Children's Hospiptal and for the Cincinnnati Fire Department.
Reverend David Vincent -- pastor of Saint Denis, Versailles, and Holy Family in Frenchtown.
INDIA
AsiaNews.it
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – An Indian Jesuit was arrested and jailed in Gujarat (western India) on the basis of false accusations made by a woman who claimed he tried to convert and have sex with her.
Christian leaders have called on the Gujarat state government to immediately intervene and secure the unconditional release of the Fr Prasad Gonsalves, who was arrested “only because he is a missionary”.
Fr Gonsalves was sent to jail on March 7 by a court in Radhanpur after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) convinced Shanteben Gulabbhai from Jawaharnagar village to press charges against him.
Two months ago Ms Gulabbhai had asked Father Gonsalves for help in finding a place to live in her district, which is located some 300 km from the Banaskantha district (northern Gujarat) where the Jesuit priest is a trustee of the local Catholic Ashram, which runs a low-cost housing project for the poor and disadvantaged.
The clergyman had told the woman that he could not help given the great distance between them. After being turned down she went to the police to press charges against him only to change her mind later saying that she just wanted to get back at the Jesuit. Father Gonsalves eventually said he would try to do something to help the woman.
MARYLAND
Washington Examiner
By ROBERT ARKELL
Examiner Staff Writer
Published: Friday, March 4, 2005 9:29 PM EST
A Pennsylvania homemaker fought back tears Friday morning shortly before her former Maryland priest was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for molesting her as a teenager and sexually abusing a Maryland boy nearly two decades ago.
"I feel as if my soul was raped and that my youth was entirely stolen from me, the 43-year-old homemaker said during her victim impact statement before the sentencing in Upper Marlboro.
Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge Michele Hotten suspended all but 18 months of Francis A. Benham's of 20 year sentence for sexually abusing and sodomizing the two victims as part of a plea agreement in which Benham agreed to forgo a trial and pleaded guilty. Benham, 68, will be eligible for parole after serving six months.
The woman said the abuse took place between 1977 and 1979 when Benham served as a priest at Holy Spirit Parish in Forestville. Benham was removed from the Holy Spirit Parish in June, 1979 after the woman, then a teenager, reported he sexually abused her. He was reassigned to St Nicholas Parish in Zainesville, Ohio later that year.
CLEVELAND (TX)
ABC 13
ABC13 Eyewitness News
(03/09/05 - CLEVELAND, TX) — A church in Cleveland trying to heal after learning a former minister has been accused of molesting a child.
Andrew Argent is a former minister of praise and worship at Cleveland's First Baptist Church in Liberty County.
Deputies arrested him Tuesday night and charged him with indecency with a child, accusing him of having an inappropriate relationship with a boy who attended the church five years ago.
The pastor says the church is now trying to get the accuser and his family through the ordeal.
"We use every bit of biblical material and knowledge to make certain there's much healing as possibly for everyone involved," said Pastor Dr. Howell Burkhead.
WORCESTER (MA)
WHDH
WORCESTER, Mass. -- The convicted murderer accused of killing pedophile priest John Geoghan asked a judge Tuesday to dismiss the charges, accusing prison officials of retaliating against him because he didn't plead guilty.
Joseph Druce, already serving a life sentence for murdering a man he thought was gay, allegedly beat and strangled Geoghan in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley on Aug. 23, 2003.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Druce said prison officials have made it impossible for him to participate in his own defense by trying to limit contact with his attorney and by removing legal documents from his cell.
Druce said he was barred from viewing a surveillance video from the day of Geoghan's killing without having a prison guard looking over his shoulder. The tape, which shows Druce leaving Geoghan's cell after the murder, is evidence in the case.
NAPLES (FL)
Naples Daily News
By JANINE ZEITLIN, jazeitlin@naplesnews.com
March 9, 2005
A prescription for healing the Catholic Church scarred by the priest abuse scandal will require a healthy dose of democracy, a priest and leading critic of the hierarchy's handling of the cases said Tuesday night.
More than 300 people turned out to hear Father Thomas Doyle speak at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in North Naples, organizers estimated.
Doyle, 60, was an expert witness in more than 150 clergy abuse cases and profiled in "Vows of Silence," a book chronicling the scandal.
"There's a fear of democracy in the Catholic Church," he said. "The age of monarchy is gone. It is no longer effective. That was a world into which the church was born ... But we're no longer riding on horseback. We have cars."
The Southwest Florida chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a group formed by lay people in response to the scandal, hosted Doyle as part of its speakers forum.
He said the decades of Catholics following clergy like "a docile flock" are gone, inspiring applause
DAYTON (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By Rob Modic
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON | Claiming his previous attorneys failed him, the Rev. Thomas Kuhn, serving a 30-day jail sentence for violating his probation for public indecency, filed a slew of private documents, including his psychological assessment and sexual history, in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
Kuhn, 63, convicted in July after he pleaded no contest to public indecency and 10 other misdemeanors stemming from providing alcohol to minors, is seeking to withdraw his plea and go to trial.
In an affidavit filed late Monday, Kuhn claims his previous attorneys, Roger J. Makely and Christopher R. Conard, did not fully inform him of legal defenses.
"The discussions were always couched in terms of minimizing embarrassment to the archdiocese and me," Kuhn said in the sworn statement.
Kuhn has since fired Makely and Conard and retained Dayton attorney Dwight Brannon.
BARNSTABLE (MA)
Boston Globe
By David Abel, Globe Staff | March 9, 2005
A Barnstable County grand jury yesterday indicted the former pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Falmouth on charges that the Roman Catholic priest embezzled more than $500,000 from the church and filed false tax returns, prosecutors said.
Bernard Kelly, who is separately being sued by the Diocese of Fall River for allegedly misappropriating $1.2 million, is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow in Barnstable Superior Court on one count of embezzlement and five counts of failing to file state income tax returns, prosecutors said.
In the past five years, Kelly allegedly wrote checks from parish accounts to himself. The investigation into the alleged embezzlement began while police investigated the 2003 murder of 20-year-old Jonathan Wessner. A Barnstable jury last year convicted a former church handyman and friend of Kelly's, Paul Nolin, of fatally stabbing the Falmouth man after he rejected Nolin's sexual advances, prosecutors said.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer
An independent tribunal mailed checks totaling more than $3 million Tuesday to victims of clergy abuse in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
The mailing is the final step in a process that began in November 2003 when the archdiocese established a victim's compensation fund as part of a legal settlement with Hamilton County prosecutors.
Prosecutors and church officials selected the tribunal to oversee the fund, evaluate individual claims and determine how much money, if any, each alleged victim should receive.
Of the 134 people who filed claims with the tribunal, 120 are expected to receive a check this week. The amount of individual checks was not disclosed Tuesday.
"We found that the vast majority of them are eligible for compensation," said Robert Stachler, a Cincinnati attorney and member of the tribunal. "They exhausted the entire fund."
GREECE
Kathimerini
A 58-year-old Greek priest, charged with sexually molesting a minor in Barcelona, is to face trial in Spain after yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling upheld a Greek law ratifying the new European arrest warrant. A lower court had accepted the extradition request submitted by Spanish authorities after the unnamed cleric was charged with molesting a young girl between 2001 and 2002, when he was giving Greek lessons to children in Barcelona.
GREECE
Kathimerini
As churches all over the country yesterday held vigils to pray for an end to the corruption and sex scandals bedeviling the Church of Greece, two key suspects are scheduled to testify today in connection with the trial-fixing allegations that opened a Pandora’s box of lurid claims regarding senior judges and churchmen.
The first, Iakovos Yiossakis — a priest in detention pending trial for antiquities theft — was allegedly the eminence grise at the center of the ring, while the second, Court of First Instance President Evangelos Kaloussis, is suspected of having sexually exploited a series of immigrant women and to have banked vast sums that cannot be legitimately accounted for.
The ongoing investigation into a series of judges and prosecutors suspected of corruption has already led to the opening of Kaloussis’s accounts in Greece which, according to judicial sources, point to the judge having received a large number of bribes.
Kaloussis is also understood to have been implicated in further wrongdoing yesterday, during the testimony of yacht-rental entrepreneur Sotiris Kritikos, on one of whose yachts the judge has been photographed with another disgraced member of the judiciary, Constantina Bourboulia — sacked for her handling of a major stock-manipulation probe.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Lucas County prosecutors will once again review files from the Toledo Catholic Diocese following an informal meeting Monday of prosecutors and Thomas Pletz, a diocesan attorney.
But saying she was bound by attorney's ethics rules and criminal statutes of limitations, Prosecutor Julia Bates cautioned that the inspection most likely will not lead to criminal charges, as victims have demanded for years.
Instead, she characterized it as a "voluntary production of information" by the diocese to make sure documents that prosecutors reviewed in 2002 are the same papers that police saw during a search of the diocesan office in September.
"We just want to re-examine those records, make sure they are the same ones we already reviewed," she said.
She said she must trust the diocese in turning over all allegations of child abuse in such an agreement. The move takes place three weeks after The Blade revealed that police, with a court order, twice searched the diocese last year during its investigation of the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
During the second search, police found records alleging child abuse, but did not seize the documents.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
The Anglican Church in Tasmania is considering repaying the Medicare rebates for people who have received compensation for sexual abuse by members of the clergy.
Under Federal legislation, people who receive compensation are required to repay their Medicare rebates for treatment for injuries or conditions they received as a result of the abuse.
The Tasmanian Government will pick up those bills for people compensated for abuse while in state care, after the Commonwealth said it would not grant an exemption.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray Telegram & Gazette Staff
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Joseph L. Druce, the inmate accused of murdering defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan, is asking that the case against him be dismissed because of what he and his lawyer describe as interference with Mr. Druce’s right to a fair trial by the state Department of Correction.
In a motion to dismiss filed yesterday in Worcester Superior Court, Mr. Druce’s lawyer, John L. LaChance, accused correction officials of engaging in “a pattern of misconduct and coercion” designed to force his client to plead guilty and avoid a trial “in which evidence contrary to the interests of the Department of Correction and a certain number of employees” could come out, to alienate Mr. Druce from his appointed counsel and to hinder Mr. Druce’s trial preparation by interfering with his ability to obtain witnesses.
In an affidavit in support of the motion, Mr. Druce alleged that in May 2004, while at the state prison in Walpole, an unnamed captain approached him and “contrary to my attorney’s advice told me to take a plea bargain in my case and transfer out of state.” In order to “harass and punish” him for not taking the captain’s advice, Mr. Druce alleged in the affidavit, an inmate who was a “known enemy” of his was relocated to his tier.
On Aug. 9, the inmate made a “spear-type object,” smeared it with feces and stabbed Mr. Druce’s foot with it as he passed by the inmate’s cell, according to the affidavit. Mr. Druce further alleged that correction officers took legal materials from his cell during a Nov. 22 “shakedown” and never returned them.
Mr. LaChance charges in the motion that the alleged interference with his client’s right to a fair trial “has in fact caused an attorney-client rift in this case and has served to turn the Defendant’s attention away from trial issues and to focus solely on what he considers to be the abuse and interference of the Department of Correction.”
Mr. Druce allegedly killed Mr. Geoghan on Aug. 23, 2003, at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster/Shirley line. At the time of the slaying, Mr. Geoghan was serving time for fondling a 10-year-old boy and Mr. Druce was doing a life sentence for the 1998 murder of a man he believed to be gay.
Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy told Judge Timothy S. Hillman yesterday he would contact correction officials to allow them to respond to Mr. Druce’s allegations.
Judge Hillman tentatively scheduled an April 25 evidentiary hearing on the motion to dismiss. Mr. LaChance said he expected the hearing to take two to three days.
Diane Wiffin of the Department of Correction’s public affairs unit said correction officials could not comment on the allegations raised by Mr. Druce because of the pending case against him.
MISSOURI
KQ2
The Catholic Church goes to court. Sixteen sexual-abuse cases involving five former priests from the St. Joseph-Kansas City Diocese are pending in Kansas City.
Although the St. Louis Archdiocese settled cases out of court, plantiffs in the Kansas City cases will see a judge.
Up the road, Conception Abbey says it takes sex abuse matters seriously and is, in fact, changing its course requirements.
KQ2`s Maggie Crane goes inside the abbey.
Prayers are offered up at Conception Abbey for those affected in pending sexual-abuse cases. The abbey says three precautions are now in place to gaurd against future abuse. Two of the precautions have already been implemented. The first is preliminary screenings for potential seminarians.
"Young men who want to join the seminary, they have to go through a psychological evaluation, they have to have references, there are background checks done on them. I mean, it`s a pretty extensive process," Dan Madden, director of development and communication, says.
ROCKFORD (IL)
Chicago Daily Herald
By Tona Kunz Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, March 09, 2005
The Rockford Catholic Diocese made its latest bid for secrecy Tuesday, asking a judge to seal all documents in a civil case over sexual abuse in Geneva and Aurora.
That would prevent the public and the media from seeing any documents regarding the work file of Mark Campobello, medical records for his 15-year-old victims or records of other diocese priests accused of sexual indiscretions against youths or adults.
"This is kind of going to be the crux of the case. This really tells them how much disclosure is required. How much of a backlash they will get," said Keith Aeschliman, a Shorewood attorney representing in the civil suit the two teens Campobello admitted sexually abusing while he served at St. Peter's Church in Geneva and Aurora Central Catholic High School. "But at the same time, it is really a test to see if the right of the public to know outweighs the right to privacy."
Although in the paperwork requesting secrecy the diocese contends it is the victims' privacy at stake, Aeschliman said it is really the diocese at risk. As in some previous church-abuse cases, the girls' names or those of other juveniles could be kept private while still turning over church files. That would protect the juveniles while shining a light on diocese practices regarding allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct.
Aeschliman has asked for diocese files on 33 priests, including Campobello, allegedly accused of sexual misconduct so that he can determine how the diocese traditionally dealt with accusations and when they learned of them.
CANADA
CBC
WebPosted Mar 9 2005 07:53 AM NST
CBC News
CORNER BROOK — The Roman Catholic diocese of St. George's says it is filing for bankruptcy protection in order to give sexual abuse victims the best compensation package.
However, Greg Stack – the lawyer representing the 36 men abused by priest Kevin Bennett – says the move is a stalling tactic.
By filing for bankruptcy protection, the diocese has put a temporary stop to the civil suits.
Bishop Douglas Crosby says the diocese does not have the $50 million dollars in compensation that the 36 victims are seeking.
LIMA (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
LIMA, Ohio - In a decision that could affect clerical sexual abuse cases statewide, Ohio's 3rd District Court of Appeals has ruled that a civil suit filed against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati can proceed even though the statute of limitations has expired.
The ruling reverses a Shelby County Common Pleas Court decision to throw out the lawsuit by the alleged victim, claiming that he was abused as a minor by the Rev. Thomas Hopp, because he did not file it within two years after turning 18.
The appellate court sent the case back to the common pleas court, agreeing with the victim, who filed anonymously as John Doe, that the statute of limitations should not apply for a number of reasons, including his arguments that the archdiocese failed to report the priest's alleged crimes to law enforcement authorities, that it concealed the alleged abuse, and that it engaged in "a pattern of corrupt activities."
"This is the first court of appeals in Ohio to rule in favor of a victim in terms of statute of limitations," said Konrad Kircher, a Mason, Ohio, attorney. Mr. Kircher filed the suit along with Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson, who has filed more than 400 sex-abuse lawsuits against dioceses.
Named in the lawsuit were the Cincinnati archdiocese, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, and Father Hopp.
Catherine Hoolahan, a Toledo attorney who has represented more than a dozen people with cases against the Toledo diocese, said many of the same arguments on statutes of limitations have been made by victims throughout Ohio, including Toledo.
FLORIDA
NBC 2
COLLIER COUNTY— Father Thomas Doyle was one of the first to bring reports of sexual abuse to the attention of the Catholic clergy in the 1980's. Now twenty years later, Doyle is visiting churches around the country to show why he believes clergy should have the opportunity to decide whether or not to be celibate as the only way to prevent more abuse.
Tuesday night it was standing room only at Saint John the Evangelist Church. Everyone gathered to learn how to reconcile the sexual abuse scandal facing the clergy.
"I'm concerned about the changes in the church so I've come to be more informed I would say," said Sandy Smith.
Father Thomas Doyle, witness in more than 150 abuse cases in the 1980's feels the scandal has shaped his 34-year career.
"The biggest thing that I've seen change in my career as a priest has been the upheaval caused by the revelation of sexual abuse by the clergy," said Doyle.
Doyle believes mandatory celibacy is partly to blame for the hundreds of accusations and subsequent sex scandal brought against catholic clergy members. He says Catholic priests aren't able to understand what harm sexual misconduct can cause.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Beacon Journal
JOHN NOLAN
Associated Press
CINCINNATI - Checks totaling $3.2 million have been mailed out to 117 people who say they were sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests, emptying a compensation fund the Archdiocese of Cincinnati created to help end a prosecutor's investigation.
An independent three-member panel created to administer the fund closed its work by mailing the checks Tuesday across the 19-county, southwestern Ohio archdiocese. The amount disbursed represents $3 million used to establish the fund in 2003 plus $200,000 in interest it had generated since then.
The panel was limited by the amount of the fund, said its chairman, Cincinnati lawyer Robert Stachler.
"You would like to pay some of them a lot more, but you didn't have the funds," he said.
Advocates for victims of clergy abuse criticized the Cincinnati archdiocese for not creating a bigger fund, and for requiring that people drop lawsuits against the church in order to participate.
"I think that fund was inadequate. It was put together without input from victims," said Mike Knellinger, co-founder of the Dayton chapter of the Voice of the Faithful, an activist group within the Catholic Church.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
Press-Enterprise
11:25 PM PST on Tuesday, March 8, 2005
By MICHAEL FISHER and MIKE KATAOKA / The Press-Enterprise
The Diocese of San Bernardino is asking a judge to return a defrocked Inland priest's personnel file, arguing that Riverside County prosecutors improperly seized the documents while investigating the former cleric who was later charged with child molestation.
The Jan. 25 search warrant, the first ever executed at the diocese's headquarters in San Bernardino, violated federal and state constitutional standards, diocesan lawyer Bill Lemann argued in court papers filed Friday.
Lemann also contends the seized personnel file for Jesús Armando Dominguez contains privileged paperwork, and that prosecutors failed to follow California laws that require a third party, dubbed a special master, to be present during such searches to secure sensitive records and review their relevance.
"Given our positive relationship with the district attorney's office in the past, it is surprising that they attempted to go beyond what the law allows by seizing confidential, personnel and medical records," said the Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the million-member diocese, comprising Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask said that although his office acted properly he will now require a special master be present during searches involving potentially privileged documents.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
San Bernardino County Sun
By Brad A. Greenberg, Staff Writer
Seeking to screen information about a defrocked priest accused of sexually abusing two former altar boys, the Diocese of San Bernardino has asked a Riverside judge to return his personnel file.
Jesus Armando Dominguez, 55, was charged in January with 58 counts of sexual abuse the most ever filed against a priest from the diocese. Authorities believe Dominguez has fled to Mexico.
The Riverside District Attorney's Office seized his file Jan. 25. The diocese last week asked for it back because it contains privileged information, such as Dominguez's medical and psychological history, said Wilfrid Lemann, diocese attorney.
"He could turn around and sue the church,' Lemann said.
Phone messages left for district attorney officials were not returned Tuesday.
A local victims' advocate said the diocese's actions were "highly suspect.'
ROME
National
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome
Alongside predictable exchanges on Iraq, the Middle East and religious liberty, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her Feb. 8 visit to the Vatican received an unexpected request -- to intervene in a U.S. lawsuit naming the Holy See as the defendant in a sex abuse case.
Church sources told NCR that Rice was asked by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s secretary of state, whether the U.S. government could stop a class-action lawsuit currently before a U.S. District Court in Louisville, Ky., that seeks to hold the Vatican financially responsible for the sexual abuse of minors.
Sources told NCR that Rice explained that under American law, foreign states are required to assert claims of sovereign immunity themselves before U.S. courts.
Vatican spokesperson Joaquín Navarro-Valls, asked by NCR for comment, responded March 2: “It’s obvious and reasonable that the Holy See would present its positions as a sovereign entity to the American State Department, and recall the immunity for its acts that international law anticipates.”
It’s not the first time, according to observers, that the Vatican has asked the State Department for help on a legal matter.
GREECE
Macedonia Press Agency
Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece called on the faithful to attend the prayer vigils to be held this evening in churches across Greece and pray for the Church to get out of the crisis tormenting it during the past weeks.
Minister of State Thodoris Rousopoulos stated that citizens or politicians need no permission to attend religious rites.
Metropolite Kalinikos of Piraeus criticized the Archbishop but at the same time offered support to him.
INDIA
Express India
Rajkot, March 8: DEVNANDAN Swami has resigned as chairman of Swaminarayan temple in Junagadh. The priest, who was accused of molesting a girl from Rajkot, had handed over his resignation to Radharaman trust on February 6 citing ‘‘health reasons.’’
‘‘Devnandan Swami tendered his resignation to Acharya Rakeshprasad who visited Junagadh on Sunday,’’ said acting chairman Purshottam Thumar.
Following this, the newly formed All-Gujarat Swaminarayan Satsang Samaj called off its agitation against Devnandan Swami. But devotees of the Swaminarayan temple in Bhupendra Road, Rajkot, have asked the Vadtal trust to disqualify him.
Devnandan Swami and his junior P P Swami had allegedly molested a girl in Rajkot three years ago. At the time, both the swamis resided in Rajkot. The charges were raised again following the arrest of Bhaktiswami of Junagadh temple in connection with the sex-on-CD scandal. The issue was taken up by the All-Gujarat Swaminarayan Satsang Samaj which had threatened to launch an agitation against Devnandan Swami on March 11 if no action was taken against him. The Samaj also accused P P Swami of owning properties worth lakhs in Saurashtra region.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By ADAM GORLICK
Associated Press Writer
WORCESTER, Mass.— The convicted murderer accused of killing pedophile priest John Geoghan asked a judge Tuesday to dismiss the charges, accusing prison officials of retaliating against him because he didn't plead guilty.
Joseph Druce, already serving a life sentence for murdering a man he thought was gay, allegedly beat and strangled Geoghan in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley on Aug. 23, 2003.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Druce said prison officials have made it impossible for him to participate in his own defense by trying to limit contact with his attorney and by removing legal documents from his cell.
Druce said he was barred from viewing a surveillance video from the day of Geoghan's killing without having a prison guard looking over his shoulder. The tape, which shows Druce leaving Geoghan's cell after the murder, is evidence in the case.
He said supervisors at Souza-Baranowski were retaliating against him for failing to heed their advice that he plead guilty to Geoghan's murder.
As part of the retaliation, Druce said, his "enemies" were transferred to his cell block. One of them "created a spear-type object, smeared it with feces and stabbed my foot with it as I passed by his cell," Druce said in an affidavit filed with his motion.
NORWICH (CT)
The Day
By ETHAN ROUEN
Day Staff Writer/Columnist, Police/Fire Reporter
Published on 3/8/2005
Norwich ––A priest who served in the Diocese of Norwich for 24 years was forced to resign in February after he was accused of sexually assaulting a child in New York 30 years ago, a spokeswoman for the diocese said Monday.
The Rev. R. Thomas McConaghy stepped down as a pastor when the diocese received a report Feb. 23 that a man accused the priest of sexually abusing him from 1973 to 1975 while the man was a student at the LaSalle Military Academy in Oakdale, N.Y., a letter from Bishop Michael R. Cote to parishioners said.
The priest, who last served as pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Norwichtown and the mission church of St. John in Fitchville, was a teacher at the school at the time of the incident, said Jacqueline Keller, the diocesan spokeswoman.
“This resignation must not be construed as an admission of any of the allegations against him,” Cote wrote. “Rather it should stand as an expression of his concern to the Parish and the Diocese of Norwich.”
McConaghy vehemently denied the charges during speeches to parishioners following masses Sunday and Monday, Keller said.
CANADA
Canada NewsWire Group
CORNER BROOK, NL, March 8 /CNW/ - The Most Rev. Douglas Crosby, Bishop of
St. George's Diocese, today announced that the Roman Catholic Episcopal
Corporation of St. George's, the civil arm of the Diocese, filed a Notice of
Intention to file a proposal pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
This filing will effect a "stay of proceedings" in civil actions against the
Corporation including those launched since 1991 on behalf of 36 victims of
sexual abuse by Kevin Bennett, then a priest of St. George's Diocese. The
intent of the filing is to provide the Corporation with adequate time to
develop a proposal to its creditors offering a better compensation plan than
would be available if the Corporation were forced to declare bankruptcy.
In 1990 Bennett was sentenced for the sexual abuse of a number of young
men over a period of almost 20 years and served four years in prison. Since
that time a number of victims have launched civil suits at a total claimed
value in excess of $50 million. In March 2004 the Supreme Court of Canada
found the Corporation directly and vicariously liable for claims by
36 individuals.
NORWICH (CT)
Norwich Bulletin
By BRIAN WALLHEIMER
Norwich Bulletin
bwallhei@norwich.gannett.com
NORWICH — Many parishioners at Sacred Heart Church in Norwichtown, were still stunned Monday after hearing their pastor has been removed because of sexual-abuse allegations dating back to the 1970s, before he became a priest.
The allegations against the Rev. R. Thomas McConaghy date back to 1973-75, when he was commandant of LaSalle Military Academy in Oakdale, N.Y., on Long Island.
Norwich Bishop Michael R. Cote removed McConaghy from St. John Mission Church in Fitchville, as well as Sacred Heart, a week ago and replaced him with the Rev. John White.
“My heart and prayers go out to Father Tom, but in the light of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, there was no other option,” Cote told parishioners in a letter dated Feb. 28. “The church has committed itself to creating safe environments for the protection of all young people.”
McConaghy denied the accusation in addresses to parishioners at Sacred Heart during Sunday’s Masses.
“I was stunned. It came out of nowhere,” Parish Council President Dean Bosse said. “Everybody is visibly shaken. They don’t believe it. It just doesn’t make sense.”
CALIFORNIA
Oakland Tribune
By Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER
While negotiations continued in an effort to reach a "global settlement" between the Roman Catholic Church and those who have accused its priests of sexually abusing them, one of the first so-called Clergy III civil trials began Monday in a Hayward courtroom.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard met for about 90 minutes with the attorney representing former altar boy Bob Thatch-er and lawyers defending the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and Thatcher's accused abuser, Robert Ponciroli.
Sheppard was presented with two large piles of briefs he is to review before attorneys return to his courtroom Wednesday to argue motions, which include requests to limit evidence and expert testimony at the trial.
Jury selection could begin as early as Thursday.
Unless a settlement precludes the proceedings, Sheppard will preside over a civil trial pitting Thatcher and his lawyer, Richard Simons, against retired priest Ponciroli and the diocese.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By O’Ryan Johnson
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
The Boston archdiocese has settled its lawsuit against an insurance company it claims failed to legally defend and compensate the church in hundreds of cases of clergy sexual abuse.
The archdiocese sued Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company in March 2004 shortly after settling 541 cases of alleged molestation by priests for $84 million.
The terms of the Lumbermens settlement were not officially released, but church spokeswoman Kelly O'Connor Lynch said Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley will make the figure public in the near future.
Two sources told The Associated Press that the insurer paid the archdiocese $20 million last week, after the church finance council approved the settlement.
BOSTON (MA)
Nashua Telegraph
By THEO EMERY, The Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, Mar. 8, 2005
BOSTON - The Archdiocese of Boston has settled with one of its former insurance carriers, Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co., over claims related to lawsuits from alleged clergy abuse victims.
The archdiocese and Lumbermens filed notice of the settlement, which was dated Feb. 9, in federal court on Monday, stating that all of the church’s claims against the insurer would be dismissed.
“We are pleased to have this matter resolved,” the Rev. John Connolly, special assistant to Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley, said in a statement. “We are hopeful that, in the near future, we will be in a position to begin discussions about how to resolve pending cases.”
Lumbermens, the lead underwriter of Kemper Insurance Cos. group, paid the archdiocese $20 million last week, after the church finance council approved the settlement, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
SEWARD (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star
By ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
SEWARD — When it was over, 11 elders who might have acted sooner and on their own stood up front at St. John Lutheran Church on Sunday afternoon.
At least two hundred members of the congregation filed by to shake their hands — and to offer them words of forgiveness.
"It was," said Congregational Chairman Ray Huebschman, "a most powerful moment."
A few minutes earlier, the 230 people in the pews learned the outcome of their two votes at an emotional congregational meeting.
In the first, Huebschman said Monday, a "clear majority" voted to excommunicate Seward resident Arlen Meyer from an overall church membership of about 2,100.
A second motion — meant to identify those who may have failed to act on knowledge of Meyer's alleged sexual misconduct against students at the school from as long ago as the 1970s — was "soundly defeated," he said.
The subsequent interaction between members and elders "brought much tears and joy," Huebschman said, "and the victims present felt relieved and welcomed back."
"As people say, you needed to be there."
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | March 8, 2005
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has reached a settlement with one of its two major insurance carriers to cover a portion of the cost of the $85 million settlement with 541 victims of clergy sexual abuse, the archdiocese said yesterday.
The archdiocese declined to describe the size of its settlement with the Lumbermen's Mutual Casualty Co., but two people familiar with the terms of the deal put it at $20 million.
The archdiocese had sued Lumbermen's in US District Court in Massachusetts in March 2004, seeking to force the insurance company to pay an unspeci- fied portion of the settlement. The insurance company filed a counterclaim the next month, arguing that the archdiocese had been so negligent in its handling of abusive priests that it should reimburse Lumbermen's for everything the insurance company had already paid out.
Yesterday the two sides filed a stipulation in court, agreeing to dismiss the litigation.
The archdiocese is still in negotiations with another insurance company, Travelers, but that company is thought to have significantly less financial liability than Lumbermen's did, because about 80 percent of the alleged abuse incidents took place when Lumbermen's was the primary archdiocesan insurer.
The $20 million deal means that the archdiocese will have to shoulder the larger share of the cost of its October 2003 agreement with abuse victims.
The primary funding for the settlement, which was paid with borrowed money, is to come from last year's $99 million sale to Boston College of a 43-acre portion of the archdiocesan headquarters in Brighton.
MYSTIC (IA
Daily Iowegian
By Dan Ehl, Managing editor March 07, 2005
An apparent settlement was reached between a former member of the Mystic Catholic Church who claimed he was sexually abused by a now-deceased priest and the Diocese of Davenport. The suit was dismissed with prejudice Oct. 14 in the Appanoose Iowa District Court.
Richard Clark of Winterset had filed 10 counts against the Diocese of Davenport in regard to incidents he charged occurred between 1957 and 1959 in the former Mystic church. The church was dissolved in 1999. He accused the late Father Louis Toledy of sexual abuse.
A "Dismissal with Prejudice,"according to its legal definition, is the act of a plaintiff dismissing a lawsuit upon settling the case. Such a dismissal may be dismissal with prejudice, meaning it can never be filed again, or dismissal without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of bringing the suit again if the defendant does not follow through on the terms of the settlement."
Bob Pontious of Clarkdale was an altar boy when Toledy was the priest in Mystic. He said he finds the charges difficult to believe.
"During a portion of the time that Father Toledy served the Catholic church at Mystic, I served as an altar boy in service to the church and its priest, along with other brothers and friends from those days," he said. "I saw nothing indicating any abusive tendencies exhibited by Father Toledy. I have spoken with others who served during the same period after learning of this allegation and they as well saw nothing exhibited that caused them any concerns."
"In approximately 1957," reads the plaintiff's court documents, "when Plaintiff Doe (Clark) was 13 years old, Defendant Toledy, using his position, authority, trust, reverence, and control as a Roman Catholic Priest, engaged in unpermitted, harmful and offensive sexual contact with the person of Plaintiff Doe.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
The Anglican Bishop of Wagga Wagga in southern New South Wales has described as "tragic" the saga of a local woman who was abused by a priest as a child and later as an adult.
Last night, ABC TV's Australian Story program covered the second half of Beth Heinrich's story on her relationship with the now defrocked bishop Donald Shearman.
The relationship began when she was 15.
Ms Heinrich, 65, said the then Reverend Shearman promised her a future together while having a sexual relationship with her.
"Whenever his wife was away Padre used to get me to lie naked on their bed with him, or else in front of the fire in their lounge room on a fox rug made from skins of foxes that he'd shot. He bought a record called I'm in the mood for love and used to like to play that," she said.
She also has shared the contents of hundreds of letters sent to her during their 40-year affair.
GREENSBURG (PA)
Tribune-Review
By Matthew Junker and Craig Smith
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
A Greensburg man filed suit against the Diocese of Greensburg over allegations that he was abused approximately 43 years ago, at the hands of a priest who has been dead since 1991.
Terrance J. Zawacki, 53, said in a filing made last week that he believes he was approximately 11 years of age when the Rev. Francis M. Lesniak took him ice skating, then invited him to stay overnight at a church rectory.
Zawacki's attorney is well known in the state for representing alleged victims of abuse at the hands of clergy. Lawyer Richard Serbin, of Altoona, represents Zawacki, one of more than 100 plaintiffs he's represented in this type of case. Last year, he settled 21 cases for $3.71 million against the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.
According to Serbin, Zawacki was a parishioner at Transfiguration Church in Mt. Pleasant, where Lesniak was filling in. Serbin said Lesniak took his client to another rectory, unknown to him.
NORWICH (CT)
The Advocate
March 7, 2005
NORWICH, Conn. -- A Roman Catholic priest has been removed from his position as pastor of Sacred Heart Church while church officials investigate sexual abuse allegations against him dating back to the 1970s.
The Rev. R. Thomas McConaghy is accused of molesting a student at the LaSalle Military Academy in Oakdale, N.Y., on Long Island between 1973 and 1975. McConaghy was the academy's commandant at the time, before he became a priest in Norwich in 1981.
The Diocese of Norwich said it learned about the allegations on Feb. 23. The former student reported the alleged abuse to the Rockville Centre diocese and civil authorities in New York.
McConaghy denied the allegations in addresses to Sacred Heart parishioners during Sunday masses. Norwich Bishop Michael R. Cote removed McConaghy from Sacred Heart and St. John Mission Church in Fitchville last week and replaced him with the Rev. John White.
MASSACHUSETTS
Republican
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
Legislation that seeks to eliminate the 15-year statute of limitations on sex abuse crimes against children would not be retroactive, according to the bill's chief author.
That means that allegations of sexual crimes made against the Most Rev. Thomas L. Dupre, bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, and others who allegedly abused minors more than 15 years ago would not be prosecutable, according to state Rep. Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy.
"Anything on the books that exceeded the statute of limitations would not be prosecutable," Mariano said.
If the bill passes, it means that sex crimes against children that go back no more than 15 years from the date the bill becomes law would be prosecutable forever, Mariano said.
The announcement Saturday that Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly supports the legislation will help the chances for passage, Mariano said.
"I'm encouraged, because the leading law enforcement officer's support of this carries a lot of weight with a lot of the trial court people who feared it would clog our courts. Now it's up to district attorneys," Mariano said.
CALIFORNIA
Mercury News
By Mary Anne Ostrom
Mercury News
The first priest sex-abuse case filed against the Archdiocese of San Francisco got under way Monday, with the attorney for a San Jose man telling a judge that his client plans to testify he was molested between 20 and 30 times by the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard while he was a student at St. Martin of Tours, in San Jose, in the early 1970s.
Attorney Larry Drivon said Dennis Kavanaugh plans to tell a San Francisco Superior Court jury that he has suffered emotional distress from the experience and ``feels guilty'' about not speaking out sooner to protect other children from Pritchard. Nearly two dozen men, one woman and Pritchard's nephew have all filed cases against the archdiocese, charging that it knew about Pritchard's pedophilia but refused to act. He died of cancer in 1998 while assigned to St. Nicholas parish in Los Altos.
The progress of this and a separate case, which also started today in Alameda County Superior Court, is being closely watched. These are the first civil trials arising from a 2002 state law that lifted the statute of limitations, allowing a one-year period for the filing of civil lawsuits against employers charged with negligence in sexual abuse cases.
In the aftermath, more than 100 sex-abuse cases have been filed against Northern California dioceses.
On Monday, settlement negotiations ordered by an Oakland judge in dozens of these cases against the Oakland diocese continued. Settlements with the San Francisco diocese, including one in the Kavanaugh case, also could happen at any time, say church and plaintiff attorneys, spurred on by the approaching trials.
HAYWARD (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Randy Myers
HAYWARD - As an Alameda County judge met behind closed doors with lawyers Monday in the first Oakland Diocese sex abuse lawsuit, another judge simultaneously herded attorneys into a courtroom for settlement negotiations in 49 other cases.
Robert Thatcher, the plaintiff in the first case set for trial in Oakland, said it was surreal and emotional to see his case move forward.
"It's anxiety, it's hope; it's a whole range of emotions all wrapped up into one," Thatcher said.
Brothers Robert and Tom Thatcher claim they were sexually abused by former priest Robert Ponciroli while serving as altar boys at St. Ignatius in Antioch from 1979 to 1981.
The brothers seek unspecified punitive as well as other damages, and allege the church was aware of complaints regarding Ponciroli but failed to act upon them.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
People who say they were victims of priestly pedophilia finally got their first day in court Monday as two trials in the Northern California clergy sex abuse scandal began in San Francisco and the East Bay.
At the same time, lawyers for plaintiffs, the Roman Catholic Church and its insurance companies continued settlement talks in a game of brinkmanship over who will pay for alleged church cover-ups of child sexual abuse by priests.
Such claims are at the heart of 150 lawsuits filed against dioceses and religious orders in Northern California, including the San Francisco case and a suit that went to trial Monday in Hayward.
In that case, two brothers, Bob and Tom Thatcher, say leaders of the Oakland Diocese allowed them to be abused in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Antioch by a known molester, the Rev. Robert Ponciroli, who is now 68 and retired.
"This is not just about Tom and me," said Bob Thatcher, 34, a Phoenix salesman and former altar boy at St. Ignatius parish in Antioch. "It's about the truth being told."
NORWICH (CT)
WTNH
(Norwich-AP, Mar. 8, 2005 6:25 AM) _ A Norwich pastor has been removed following allegations of sexual abuse dating to the 1970s before he was a priest.
Published reports say the allegations against the Reverend R. Thomas McConaghy date to 1973 to 1975 when he was commandant of LaSalle Military Academy in Oakdale, New York, on Long Island.
Norwich Bishop Michael Cote removed McConaghy from Saint John Mission Church in Fitchville and Sacred Heart in Norwich a week ago and replaced him with the Reverend John White.
HAYWARD (CA)
The Daily Review
By Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER
HAYWARD — As negotiations continue in an effort to hammer out a "global settlement" in about 160 priest sex abuse suits — including several involving former Fremont priests — the first of the Clergy III civil trials commenced Monday in a Hayward courtroom.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard met for about 90 minutes with the attorney representing former altar boy Bob Thatcher and lawyers defending the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and the accused abuser, Robert Ponciroli.
Sheppard was presented with two large piles of briefs he is to review before rival attorneys return to his courtroom on Wednesday to argue motions, which include requests to limit evidence and expert testimony at trial. Jury selection is expected to begin as early as Thursday.
Unless there is a settlement, Sheppard will preside over a civil trial pitting Thatcher and his lawyer, Richard Simons, against retired priest Ponciroli and the Oakland diocese.
Ponciroli, 68, is accused of abusing Thatcher from 1979 to 1982 while Thatcher was an altar boy at St. Ignatius Parish in Antioch. The Oakland diocese includes Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The Thatcher case is one of several naming Ponciroli as an abuser.
WEST UNION (IA)
The Daily Register
By JACK SWANSON
Managing Editor
WEST UNION - Leaders of a local support group for clergy sex abuse victims announced this week that a child molestation lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Dubuque and Father William Goltz, for an alleged incident that happened while Father Goltz was serving at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oelwein.
The suit was filed in Fayette County District Court last Friday on behalf of a victim who only is identified in the lawsuit as "John Doe."
The abuse is alleged to have taken place in 1954, according to Steve Theisen of Hudson, who co-chairs the Northeastern Iowa chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group.
The suit states that Goltz was one of three resident priests at the Sacred Heart parish in 1954 and that Goltz became acquainted with "Doe" in the spring and summer of 1954, when Doe was 13.
Doe alleges that Goltz asked for help washing his car and Doe helped him, and that afterwards, Goltz asked that he go for a drive. Doe says they drove to a rock quarry in Fayette County, where Goltz sexually abused him. He said he also showed him illicit photographs of young boys that he kept in the car's glove compartment.
Doe also alleges that after the incident, Goltz was summoned to the parish for questioning by the Rev. Paul J. Maquire, one of the two priests assigned by the Archdiocese to the Sacred Heart Parish, and after Maquire questioned him, told him not to talk about the incident.
Doe also believes that a formal church trial was held against Goltz following a report of the abuse to the Archdiocese, and that as a result of the trial, Goltz was charged with a violation for being sexually involved with young men.
Doe also alleges that Goltz was found guilty and the Archbishop at the time banned him from celebrating Mass and hearing confessions, removed him from the parish, and required him to live under supervision in a house of penance, but did not report the crimes to civil authorities.
"We're appalled that Dubuque Catholic officials let Goltz remain around children despite years of 'treatment' for sexual problems at secretive, church-run facilities throughout the United States," said Theisen, co-founder of Iowa SNAP.
The suit alleges that following the incident Goltz took an extended sick leave in New Mexico, then returned to Iowa and was reassigned to Saint Ludmilla's Parish in Cedar Rapids in 1966.
He also served in parishes in Webster City, Hampton, Sand Springs, Dorchester, and Waterloo, ending his active priesthood at St. Jude in Cedar Rapids. He officially retired in 1992 and then moved to McGregor. In 1996 he moved to Guttenburg, according to court documents.
The court documents did not state where he was living at this time.
So far, there has been no response from the Archdiocese to the court filing.
"My heart goes out to this survivor of Goltz. Like so many of us, he has suffered in silence for a very long time," said Heather Smith of Waterloo, and also co-founder of Northeast Iowa SNAP. "We applaud his courage which may bring more survivors forward. We pray all parishes will begin to reach out to all survivors and demand change from Hanus."
She expressed disappointment that the archbishops still refuses to release the names of those who have had credible molestation accusations made against them. "In his eyes, I guess, the alleged privacy of child molesters trumps the actual safety of children," she said.
According to Goltz' work history, several years he apparently lived in other states. "Who protected children and warned parents when Goltz was sent to Wisconsin, and Ohio?" Theisen asked.
Both Smith and Theisen stress that victim-survivors can contact their group in confidence to talk about abuse.
"We let victims know they are no longer alone, that they are supported no matter how they choose to start recovering, and that despite the pain, there is hope," said Smith.
Theisen can be reached at 319-231-1663 and Smith can be reached at 319-939-4144. SNAP also has a nation-wide toll-free hotline, 1 877 SNAP HEALS. The organization's web site is SNAPnetwork.org
COVINGTON (KY)
Kentucky Post
Post staff report
Officials of the Diocese of Covington and leaders of the diocese's annual fund-raising drive say they're confident the request for $1.815 million in donations won't be hampered by news that the diocese is laying off 15 of its 65 employees.
Bishop Roger Foys announced in the latest edition of the Messenger, the diocese's newspaper, that the 15 employees will be let go June 30 because of the financial situation of the diocese.
The Messenger noted that in the past 18 months the diocese has settled 55 sexual abuse claims for $10.5 million, with $3.9 million of that paid by the diocese from its own funds and the rest from the diocese's insurers.
The Kentucky Post reported last week that the diocese may be close to settling a class-action lawsuit that alleges a half-century of covering up sexual abuse by priests.
GREECE
Kathimerini
As Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday detected a “silver lining” in the cloud of scandal hanging over the Church of Greece, a report said that a senior bishop has been indicted on charges of embezzling over 300,000 euros from Church funds and charities.
According to the Sunday Apoyevmatini newspaper, the Nafplion Council of Appeals Court Judges has indicted Panteleimon, Bishop of Corinth, to stand trial for allegedly siphoning the missing cash into bank accounts in his name and destroying the Bishopric’s financial records to cover his tracks. Another five Corinth priests and the bishop’s female factotum were also indicted.
The 86-year-old bishop allegedly appropriated Church funds between 1993 and 2000, including cash from a girls’ orphanage and an old-age home. Panteleimon is also accused of having falsely claimed that the Bishopric’s financial records were destroyed during the severe floods that afflicted Corinth in 1997. Instead, the indictment said, he ordered an associate to dispose of the potentially incriminating documents in dumpsters on a highway outside Corinth.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Christodoulos claimed the ongoing corruption and sex scandals bedeviling the Church of Greece had their positive side. “Every cloud has a silver lining,” he told an Athens congregation yesterday. “[This crisis] has forced us to examine ourselves and our close associates, and to take action... It affects us, even though we are not immediately involved.”
GREECE
Kathimerini
A 58-year-old Greek priest alleged to have sexually molested a minor in Barcelona had his appeal against extradition to Spain rejected on Saturday by a Supreme Court rapporteur, in the first high court test of a new European arrest warrant.
A lower court had accepted the extradition request submitted by Spanish authorities after the unnamed cleric was charged with molesting a young girl between 2001 and 2002, when he was giving Greek lessons to children in Barcelona.
According to the court’s ruling, the extradition of the priest for trial in Spain would not violate the Greek Constitution. The ruling was echoed by the Supreme Court rapporteur, who explained that a Greek citizen could be tried by Spanish authorities before being sent back to Greece to serve his sentence. In this particular case, however, the priest would probably face a longer jail sentence in Greece than in Spain, if convicted.
NORFOLK (VA)
The Virginian-Pilot
By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot
March 7, 2005
NORFOLK — On a Saturday morning when she might otherwise be shuttling her children to sports practice, Joanne Wagner was in a Catholic parish hall, one among three dozen church volunteers assembled to watch a videotape of child molesters’ confessions and abuse victims’ anguished stories.
It was ugly, intense – and also mandatory under the Diocese of Richmond’s new and permanent initiative for teaching parish volunteers how to detect and prevent child sexual abuse.
By June, the diocese expects to have channel ed 10,000 parishioners through “Protecting God’s Children,” a three-hour workshop required for adults whose volunteerism involves contact with children.
Individuals who refuse the training will not be allowed to work with children unless a second, trained adult is also present, said Maryjane Fuller, the assistant human resources director for the diocese.
After completing the workshop, volunteers are required to visit an abuse prevention Web site each month for updates and new information.
The diocese, which already required background checks for volunteers and staff, has also cycled clergy and employees through the workshop.
NAPLES (FL)
Naples Daily News
By JANINE A. ZEITLIN, jazeitlin@naplesnews.com
March 7, 2005
Warding off sexual abuse in the Catholic Church will take breaking down the mystique of the power of priests and making celibacy a choice, says a priest who predicted the scandal 20 years ago.
Father Thomas Doyle, 60, a priest for nearly 35 years, was an expert witness in more 150 clergy abuse cases and consulted on at least 500, he said.
On Tuesday, local Catholics will host Doyle — profiled in "Vows of Silence," a book chronicling the scandal — in a 7 p.m. speech and question-and-answer session at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in North Naples.
The Southwest Florida chapter of Voice of the Faithful — a group with 40,000 members nationwide formed by lay people in response to the unraveling scandals — organized the visit for its third annual speaker's forum.
Mandatory celibacy was one factor fueling the crisis, says Doyle, because priests didn't fully fathom the scars abuse left on victims, an understanding that might deepen through parenthood.
BOSTON (MA)
MetroWest Daily News
By Associated Press
Monday, March 7, 2005
BOSTON -- Attorney General Tom Reilly said he will support legislation to eliminate the 15-year statute of limitations for sex-abuse crimes against children.
"A predator of a child should never be out of the reach of the law," Reilly said Saturday in an interview. "If a prosecutor can make a case, and there are victims who are willing and able to make that case, the law should not stand in their way."
The recent trial of former priest Paul Shanley was a factor for Reilly, who described the prosecution of Shanley as "a very important case."
Reilly met with the victim in that case, and on the day of Shanley's sentencing to 12 to 15 years in prison, the courtroom was filled with alleged Shanley victims who said they couldn't press charges because of the statute of limitations.
"When someone is brave enough to come forward and testify and confront their abuser, they should not be prevented because of any technicality in the law," Reilly said.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Christine Chinlund | March 7, 2005
I CAN understand why people who knew the Rev. Gilbert Phinn were upset by the Globe's handling of his Feb. 22 obituary. It's unsettling to see a beloved priest, especially one as dedicated as Phinn, linked with the Catholic Church sexual abuse story.
There, in the ninth paragraph of an otherwise positive account, was a description of how Phinn, as archdiocese personnel director 23 years ago, reportedly told a priest with a history of sexual abuse to keep his past a secret from the pastor when assigned to a new parish. The exchange was originally reported in 2002.
Those who knew Phinn were hurt and angered by what they saw as a very cheap shot. It dominated conversation at his wake and standing-room-only funeral, attendees reported. Here in the ombudsman's office the issue sparked far more outcry than any other obituary during my three-year tenure, with most complaints from Milton, where Phinn served most recently at St. Elizabeth's.
The issue became more than just one obituary; it was, some readers said, fresh evidence of anti-Catholic bias. For them, it deepened a troubling divide.
''People were looking for a little comfort in that obituary, and instead this was a slap in the face," said Joseph Coughlin. Whatever Phinn may have once said to an errant priest ''had nothing to do with his life's work and there was no point bringing it up in an obituary," said Barbara Bacci. Said Ken Foscaldo, ''The Globe did a good job exposing the priest scandal, but at some point it goes beyond the bounds" -- in this case by needlessly hurting ''a good man." They spoke for many others.
I sympathize with readers bothered by the reference; it was jarring. But I am also bothered by the prospect that the Globe would return to the days when obituaries were just eulogies in print.
MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
By KEVIN MURPHY The Kansas City Star
In both Kansas City and St. Louis, priests have been the target of many sexual-abuse lawsuits in recent years.
The allegations are similar — that some priests abused children, mostly boys, in the 1970s and 1980s and that the church hierarchy knew of the misconduct but failed to take much, if any, action.
The responses to the lawsuits, however, are quite different.
The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis has taken most of the lawsuits right to mediation, settling 31 of 40 recent cases for $2.4 million and agreeing to send letters of apology to victims.
The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, meanwhile, is contesting all 16 pending lawsuits in court and has filed several dozen motions to strike language, seek more details or dismiss cases.
The motions have met with mixed success; only one of the lawsuits was dismissed.
The diocesan motions frustrate plaintiffs in Kansas City, said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“There is a difference between fighting on the merits and fighting on technicalities,” Clohessy said.
The Rev. Patrick Rush, diocesan vicar general, said the diocese is following lawyers' advice in fighting the lawsuits.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
March 7, 2005 - 9:05PM
A woman has accused former governor-general Peter Hollingworth of "basically" telling her to get lost when she went to him with a sexual abuse claim against a priest.
Beth Heinrich said she was a boarder at the Anglican hostel at Forbes in western NSW during the 1950s, run by then Bishop Donald Shearman, when he started having sex with her.
Just prior to his appointment as governor-general, Ms Heinrich approached Archbishop Hollingworth for assistance when she realised she had been sexually abused.
She claimed he fobbed her off, ABC TV's Australian Story revealed.
Now in her 60s, Ms Heinrich told the program that, when she was a schoolgirl, Bishop Shearman would make her lie naked on his bed with him, when his wife was away, and read a book about sexual techniques while he told her `This is what God wants it to be'."
CALIFORNIA
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Cases alleging negligence at two northern California Roman Catholic dioceses are scheduled to go to trial today , making them the first of about 150 civil suits filed by alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests since the statute of limitations was temporarily lifted in 2002.
The trials involving the San Francisco and Oakland dioceses are scheduled to begin Monday in Alameda County Superior Court before two separate judges. But the Oakland case may be delayed after a judge ordered a settlement conference for Monday.
The case set for trial against the Oakland diocese was filed by a 34-year-old former altar boy, who now lives in Arizona. The man claims he was abused by former priest Robert Ponciroli at St. Ignatius Church in Antioch. Ponciroli, 68, now lives in Florida.
A second claimant in that same case is the man's brother, according to Stephen McFeely, a lawyer for the diocese.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Friday, March 4, 2005
ALBANY -- A long-deceased priest who for 12 years ran a church-sponsored overnight camp for underprivileged children is the subject of sexual abuse allegations dating back to 1958.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is investigating five complaints against the Rev. John P. Klebie. A sixth complaint was one of seven cases just settled against priests last month through an independent mediation program.
Klebie, who died in 1981, was removed from ministry in the 1970s when a claim he faced then was found to be credible, diocesan officials confirmed Wednesday.
The priest, who at some point changed his last name from Klebauskas, ran Camp Scully, a Catholic summer camp on Snyder's Lake in North Greenbush for kids ages 7 to 14, from 1958 to 1970.
UPPER MARLBORO (MD)
The Courier
BY JAMES WASHBURN
THE COURIER
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Lincoln resident Francis Benham, a 68-year-old former Catholic priest who pleaded guilty in December to second- and third-degree sex charges dating back to the 1970s, was sentenced to 18 months in jail Friday.
Circuit Judge Michele Hotten officially sentenced Benham to two, 10-year concurrent prison terms stemming from the convictions. But, as part of a plea agreement reached between Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey and Benham’s defense attorney, all but 18 months of the simultaneous prison terms were suspended, said Ramon Korionoff, a spokesman for Ivey.
In addition to the jail term, Benham also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his discharge from jail and is to refrain from contacting the victims in the case or with any one under the age of 18, Korionoff said.
Hotten also ordered Benhem be clinically evaluated by a member of the Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers, he added.
SOUTH AFRICA
News 24
06/03/2005 22:34 - (SA)
Philip de Bruin
Johannesburg - An Apostolic Faith Mission pastor, who is facing charges relating to the sexual harassment of young girls, will know his fate this week.
A disciplinary council of the Apostolic Faith Mission will deliver judgment on Wednesday after a hearing at the weekend.
The name of the Richard's Bay pastor is being withheld on legal advice. Although he appeared in the magistrate's court last Thursday, he still has to plead. He will appear again on Monday.
According to AFM sources, the pastor is widely known in church circles and he and his family have played a prominent role in the church for many years.
Beeld learnt that some of the girls' parents decided to take the case to the police after the AFM started its investigation into the allegations
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Contra Costa Times
KIM CURTIS
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Cases alleging negligence at two northern California Roman Catholic dioceses are scheduled to go to trial Monday, making them the first of about 150 civil suits filed by alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests since the statute of limitations was temporarily lifted in 2002.
The trials involving the San Francisco and Oakland dioceses are scheduled to begin Monday in Alameda County Superior Court before two separate judges. But the Oakland case may be delayed after a judge ordered a settlement conference for Monday.
"The bishop is hoping mediation works," said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, spokesman for the diocese.
The case set for trial against the Oakland diocese was filed by a 34-year-old former altar boy, who now lives in Arizona. The man claims he was abused by former priest Robert Ponciroli at St. Ignatius Church in Antioch. Ponciroli, 68, now lives in Florida and is not a defendant in the case.
A second claimant in that same case is the man's brother, according to Stephen McFeely, a lawyer for the diocese.
The case against the San Francisco diocese was filed by a man who alleges abuse by the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard while the man was a student at St. Martin of Tours Church in San Jose. The man, now in his mid-40s, has said the abuse took place in 1972 and 1973.
VATICAN CITY
Montana News Association
by MNA PRESS
Vatican City, Vatican City -- Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene on the behalf of the Holy See during Rice's recent visit to Rome, a request that Rice declined. Speculation that such requests are commonly made behind closed doors is common, but confirmation is unusual. The Kentucky case that prompted Sodano's request for help is different than most lawsuits working their way through the American court system in that it is the only one in which the Vatican is the lone defendant and the only one directly related to the recent series of sex abuse scandals that have stained the reputation of the Catholic Church in the United States.
SHREWSURY (MO)
Times
by Don Corrigan
Clergy with histories of sex abuse, who reside at a retirement facility in Shrewsbury, may pose a threat to children in the community, according to Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
SNAP members demonstrated Feb. 23 outside the St. Louis County Police Department in Clayton. They held photos of priests and a map with push pins showing where convicted and suspected abusive clerics live in the St. Louis area.
They also produced a letter of concern about molestation risks, addressed to Col. Jerry Lee of St. Louis County Police.
"We write to you today because of our concern that children within your jurisdiction are needlessly being placed at risk because the Archdiocese of St. Louis has chosen to house known pedophiles in a retirement home," declared the letter, authored by David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris of SNAP.
"The home, Regina Cleri, was designed as a retirement facility for priests in their declining years," the letter continued. "It was built with their comfort and safety in mind. It was not built to house dangerous sexual predators."
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee
By Laurel Rosenhall -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, March 6, 2005
Financial troubles stemming from declining enrollment and the potential cost of settling lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests threaten the future of up to 10 elementary schools in the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.
Diocese officials, who oversee an area that stretches from Sacramento to the Oregon border, won't name all the schools they're considering restructuring or closing. But at least two are in Sacramento neighborhoods, and parents there say they are frustrated with the lack of communication on a matter that affects hundreds of families.
In a Feb. 24 letter sent to parents at All Hallows School in Tahoe Park and St. Peter's School in Fruitridge Manor, diocese officials warned that the stability of the schools is in question because of dropping enrollment, rising operating costs and the looming threat of legal liability.
"The settlement of abuse cases puts our finances in question," said Lynette Magnino, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Diocese.
"There is a potential that things will be affected in the future."
CHENEY (KS)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Susan Schrock
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
CHENEY, Kan. - The 8-year-old girl and her brother invited fellow church member Jeremiah Sexton to join them in a game of tag in the yard of Cheney Baptist Church.
It was Sunday, Jan. 9, 2000. Months later, the girl told her parents that Sexton had grabbed her and touched her inappropriately after her brother left the game. She said Sexton, who was 17, had told her "to keep it a secret."
She was one of four girls Sexton was convicted of fondling at the church during a nine-month period. Although many in the tight-knit congregation came to learn of Sexton's crimes, few people outside of the church were aware of them.
School officials, local media outlets and even his grandmother said they didn't know that Sexton withdrew from high school in April 2000 because he had been placed in a juvenile detention center and ordered into sex offender therapy.
After he was released in 2002, Sexton moved with his family to Springtown, Texas. Because he was convicted as a juvenile, Sexton wasn't required by Kansas law to tell anyone he was a sex offender.
His criminal past wasn't revealed until February when Sexton, now 22, was charged with abducting and sexually assaulting two young Arlington girls.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
Dan Rodricks
I COUNT at least three epiphanies - sudden and stunning realities he had ignored, denied or just missed for nearly three decades - that Bob Russell experienced as he moved firmly into middle age and finally faced the old demon named Brett.
The first came in June 2001, when Russell, now a force in the Baltimore chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), heard a news report of a schoolteacher who had received a heavy jail sentence for sexually abusing a student, in either Maryland or Pennsylvania. Russell does not recall why this case, among the ugly many that stream in and out of public consciousness, made him decide to unlock his own secret.
But it did.
"That," Russell says, "was when I decided, 'OK, enough. What happened to [me] has happened to others, and it has got to stop. Enough. It was not [my] fault. Stop running from it. It is not [my] shame. It is the shame of the Roman Catholic Church.'"
For years, Russell had kept his secret "locked in a steel box with chains around it."
He never told anyone - not his parents, not classmates, not the woman who became his wife - what had happened in 1973, when he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Calvert Hall College, the all-boys Catholic high school in Towson.
Twice, Russell says, a priest named Laurence Brett molested him.
WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette Extra
(Published Sunday, March 6, 2005 11:51:49 PM CST)
By Sid Schwartz/Gazette Staff
A former Reedsburg man, who claims the Rev. Kenneth Klubertanz also molested him, said the church is dragging its feet in the prosecution of the priest.
"It's taken so long," the 48-year-old man said. "It's taken over a year now just to get word that there's going to be a canonical trial. Rome works so slow.
"It really works on you at times. You feel defenseless. You feel hopeless."
He is one of three men who have accused Klubertanz of inappropriate sexual contact.
Unlike Christopher Leonard, a former Janesville man who claims Klubertanz molested him in 1975, the former Reedsburg man does not want his name published.
"Some have said, 'If you come out, maybe others will come out.' That may be true, but then I have to live with the stigma."
The man said Klubertanz sexually assaulted him when he was 12 while they were alone at a cabin in northern Wisconsin.
WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette Extra
(Published Sunday, March 6, 2005 11:51:50 PM CST)
By Sid Schwartz/Gazette Staff
Unlike trials in criminal or civil court, the trial of the Rev. Kenneth Klubertanz under canon law will not be public.
The accusers probably won't be allowed to attend, either.
"They do not try to have the accused and the accuser in the same room at the same time going at each other," said the Rev. Arthur Espelage, executive coordinator of the Canon Law Society of America in Alexandria, Va.
"I can see where a child who has been hurt this way has been scarred forever. They have been robbed of power and control.
"Maybe this is a way they feel they can get that power and control back, but I'm not sure that a courtroom is a place to do that. I'm not even sure it's possible."
Bill Brophy, communications director of the Madison Diocese, said Klubertanz's trial has not yet been scheduled.
WISCONSIN
Janesville Gazette Extra
(Published Sunday, March 6, 2005 11:51:54 PM CST)
By Sid Schwartz/Gazette Staff
Christopher Leonard said he dreamed of joining the clergy even after a Janesville priest molested him in 1975.
"My emotional growth was stunted," Leonard said. "I turned for validation to other things to validate who I was. Seminary was a way to escape."
But he said he couldn't run away from the pain and depression.
"I completely changed. I became more withdrawn, more angry. I wanted to run away from home so bad I could taste it," he said.
In 1975, Leonard was 13.
That summer, the Rev. Kenneth Klubertanz, then a priest at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Janesville, took him camping in northern Wisconsin. While they bathed naked in a lake, Leonard said, Klubertanz sexually assaulted him.
BOSTON (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON— Attorney General Tom Reilly, reversing his earlier stance, said he will support legislation to eliminate the 15-year statute of limitations for sex-abuse crimes against children.
"A predator of a child should never be out of the reach of the law," Reilly said in a telephone interview with the Boston Sunday Globe. "If a prosecutor can make a case, and there are victims who are willing and able to make that case, the law should not stand in their way."
The recent trial of former priest Paul Shanley was a factor for Reilly, who described the prosecution of Shanley as "a very important case."
Reilly met with the victim in that case, and on the day of Shanley's sentencing to 12 to 15 years in prison, the courtroom was filled with alleged Shanley victims who said they couldn't press charges because of the statute of limitations.
"When someone is brave enough to come forward and testify and confront their abuser, they should not be prevented because of any technicality in the law," Reilly said.
In Shanley's case, the then-priest left the state in 1990, stopping the clock on the statute of limitations. After his arrest in 2002, his case became a public example of the problems of prosecuting sexual abusers in cases dating back decades.
In 2003, after Reilly's office delivered a report that found clergy may have abused up to 1,000 children over the last 60 years, Reilly said he could not support elimination of the statute. He said he instead supported tougher penalties for priests and others who didn't report abuse.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
blade staff writer
On a warm September afternoon, three Toledo detectives and a Lucas County prosecutor marched through the front door of the Toledo Catholic diocese and - over the objections of a startled receptionist - loaded into an elevator and punched the button to the fourth floor.
They were carrying a four-page search-and-seizure order signed by a judge, and their abrupt appearance at the downtown office of Bishop Leonard Blair marked a hairpin turn in what had been a cordial relationship between diocesan officials and criminal authorities investigating the 1980 killing of an elderly nun.
"Their communication prior to the search warrants was pretty open and free-flowing between us," the Rev. Michael Billian, episcopal vicar and the diocese's top administrator, recalled of the unprecedented search.
Their target that day: the church's most-secret files - documents that investigators had hoped might contain clues to a 1980 slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl and the man charged in her death: the Rev. Gerald Robinson.
Emerging from his office, Bishop Blair told investigators that such papers simply didn't exist.
But police, who removed 148 documents bearing the murder suspect's name, weren't convinced. Two days later, they returned with a second court order to search the office of the second most-powerful man in the 19-county diocese: Father Billian.
MASSACHUSETTS
MetroWest Daily News
By Sara Withee / Daily News Staff
Sunday, March 6, 2005
As allegations began, four priests became quick symbols of the Archdiocese of Boston's unfolding clergy sex abuse scandal: Ronald Paquin, Paul Shanley, Kevin Iguabita and Paul Desilets.
Among the first to face public allegations in the wake of former priest John Geoghan's sex abuse trial in 2002, the four were also linked by their inability to escape prosecution through statutes of limitations.
Paquin, a former Haverhill priest charged with raping an altar boy, was sentenced first in January 2003. Iguabita was convicted that summer of raping a 15-year-old girl from his Haverhill parish.
Shanley, meanwhile, met his fate last month when he was convicted of child rape during a widely watched trial in Middlesex Superior Court. The 74-year-old former Newton priest is now serving 12 to 15 years in state prison.
Desilets is the only one who remains free. The 81-year-old has spent the past three years in Canada, fighting extradition on 32 charges of sexually abusing and assaulting altar boys at Assumption parish in Bellingham.
It's a fight expected to stretch on at least a few more months -- news that comes hard for the now-grown altar boys who have spent several decades awaiting justice.
ERLANGER (KY)
WKYT
ERLANGER, Ky. -- The Covington Diocese plans to lay off some workers this summer as it continues to cut costs while paying out millions to settle sexual-abuse claims.
The plans were announced by Bishop Roger Foys in Friday's edition of the diocesan newspaper, The Messenger. The layoffs are necessary considering the financial situation of the diocese, Foys wrote.
Diocesan spokesman and Messenger editor Tim Fitzgerald wouldn't elaborate on what financial situation Foys was referring to in the article.
IRELAND
The Sunday Business Post
06 March 2005 By Kieron Wood
Ireland's Catholic Bishops will meet in Maynooth next week to decide how best to raise new funds to meet the expected €50 million bill for clerical sex abuse victims.
Nine years ago, the bishops set up the Stewardship Trust Fund to compensate victims of clerical sex abuse. The trust, which is run by the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, Dublin and Tuam, received an initial €4.3 million from the Catholic Church's insurers, Church & General.
Three years later, the insurer agreed to pay up to a further €6.3 million into the trust. Existing funds are now about to run out because of the volume of claims and Allianz insurance is shortly expected to top up the fund with “several million euro'‘ to meet new claims.
UNITED STATES
Newsday
BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER
March 5, 2005
It was every school official's worst nightmare.
At 4:20 p.m. on a late January school day, a fax came to Manatee Schools Superintendent Roger Dearing in Bradenton, Fla., warning that one of his assistant principals had been accused of molesting two boys while a Catholic seminarian 30 years earlier.
By 4:45, Dearing had placed the longtime educator on administrative leave. Within two days, the assistant principal had resigned.
Why weren't those allegations -- contained in a civil lawsuit in Massachusetts and a complaint to the Portland, Maine, Diocese -- known to Dearing?
Victims' advocates say that's one of the largest holes in the so-called "one strike and you're out" policy adopted by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops in June 2002, and now under review in the United States and Rome.
"If a bishop asked me, 'What is the quickest, cheapest, most effective step I could take to protect the safety of children today,' I would tell them that it would simply be to put the names of the known and suspected molesters up on diocesan Web sites," said David Clohessy, national president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
NAPLES (FL)
Sun-Sentinel
The Associated Press
Posted March 5 2005, 5:53 PM EST
Three sexual misconduct cases against a former Catholic priest have been settled in recent months for $1.5 million, the victims' lawyer said.
Five lawsuits are known to have been filed against William Romero, who served at the St. Ann parish in Naples during the mid-1970s and the Archdiocese of Miami. But attorney Ted Zelman said more victims would be found had archdiocese officials conducted a full investigation.
``I believe they acknowledge what had happened,'' Zelman said. ``But as far as really accepting their culpability, that didn't occur.''
Church officials say they've exhausted efforts to root out potential Romero victims and their investigations are shut.
Romero, 68, retired in 1995 and resigned from the clergy in 2003 after allegations resurfaced.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Monday, February 28, 2005
ALBANY -- On the surface, the two men couldn't be more different.
One, a 59-year-old professional, left the area years ago for sunnier climes out West and has been gainfully employed ever since.
The other, a 47-year-old who still lives in the Capital Region, once aspired to the priesthood but hasn't been able to keep a job for very long.
What they share is the experience of having been sexually abused as boys by priests. By the time they turned 13, their innocence and faith were long gone.
The two men are among the first seven to receive monetary compensation from an independent mediation program.
The initiative, overseen by retired Court of Appeals Judge Howard Levine, was commissioned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany last year as a way to handle abuse allegations independently.
VATICAN CITY
National
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR broke a story this week about a request from Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State, to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in their Feb. 8 meeting, asking the State Department to intervene in a lawsuit in Kentucky seeking to hold the Vatican responsible for clerical sexual abuse in the United States. Though most legal experts describe the lawsuit as a long shot -- both because of the Holy See's status as a sovereign state and on First Amendment grounds, in addition to the fact that the Holy See is not directly involved in the supervision of clergy -- the Sodano request nevertheless reflects concern that the Vatican could be exposed to the sort of crippling payments that American dioceses have been forced to make.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
Bishop Leonard Blair, in an unprecedented public letter, apologized to hundreds of members of a West Toledo Catholic parish for the actions of a former priest removed from ministry for allegedly sexually abusing young girls in the 1970s.
The letter was mailed this week to parishioners at St. Pius X Church as part of a legal settlement between the diocese, the parish, and Teresa Bombrys, 43, who accused former associate pastor Chet Warren of molesting her when she was a student at the parish's grade school.
The bishop wrote that Ms. Bombrys' complaint was investigated by the diocese and "determined to be credible."
"On behalf of the Diocese of Toledo and Saint Pius X Parish, I apologize to Teresa Bombrys for the harm she suffered," the bishop stated. "I continue to pray for her and all the other innocent victims of sexual abuse and ask your prayers as well as those who have been harmed."
In addition to the letter - the first of its kind ever sent by the Toledo diocese - the bishop plans to preside at a healing Mass at the church sometime later this year, Sally Oberski, diocesan spokesman, said.
OAKLAND (CA)
The Argus
Dan MCNEVIN
ON Feb. 24, The Argus broke a story about the Catholic Diocese of Oakland's duplicity in moving a convicted sexual felon to Niles, where he allegedly abused at least three altar boys, "Church knew of pastor's sex past."
When diocese spokesman Father Mark Wiesner was asked why The Rev. James Clark's personnel file did not contain records of his arrest, probation or court-ordered psychiatric care, Wiesner said he "could think of no reason why the information about Clark's conviction would have been excluded."
He went on to say: "But the church of 40 years ago is not the church of today," implying today's church would not hide or destroy such data.
At best, Wiesner is mistaken. At worst, he continues a tradition of deceit.
To wit: Former Oakland Chancellor and Vicar General George Crespin was featured recently in the Dallas Morning News ("Why DA Bill Hill Should Be Wary," Feb. 15). In a deposition the News excerpted, Crespin admitted keeping records of abusive priests clear of their personnel files. He said his lawyers directed that behavior.
Reportedly, Crespin was in charge of investigating sex abuse allegations leveled against the diocese, and until 1994 was second in command to the bishop.
GREECE
Christian Today
The Greek Orthodox Church is under pressure from a sweeping change of Church leadership amid investigations of overwhelming scandals on sex and finance among senior clergymen.
The controversy began in early February. Since then the Greek Orthodox Church, the official state religion of Greece, has been stunned by continuous allegations of embezzlement, corruption and sexual escapades. The Holy Synod, governing body of the Church, therefore met in Athens on 18-19 February to endorse a major emergency reform in the wake of the scandal.
The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, made an apology to the whole nation regarding all the embarrassing misbehaviours of priests and senior clerics. Financial administration has been reinforced and a council to regulate ethical problems of clergymen has been set up.
Unfortunately, the apology has not been able to ease the Church out of public and cleric outrage, and calls have been continuous for the resignation of leaders involved in the scandal.
VATICAN CITY
New Kerala
[World News]: By ERIC J.LYMAN VATICAN CITY, March 4 : Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene on the behalf of the Holy See during Rice's recent visit to Rome, a request that Rice declined.
Speculation that such requests are commonly made behind closed doors is common, but confirmation is unusual.The story of Sodano's request was first brought to light by theAbuse Tracker on Friday and confirmed to United Press International by Vatican sources.
The request came on Feb. 8, a time that 84-year-old Pope John Paul II, who is already slowed by severe arthritis and Parkinson's disease was forced to cancel his meeting with Rice while in the hospital for breathing-related problems.The aged pontiff left the hospital two days after that, but re-entered on Feb. 24 and has been in intensive care since then after undergoing an emergency tracheotomy to relieve serious breathing problems.
HILDALE (UT)
Rocky Mountain News
By Travis Reed, Associated Press
March 5, 2005
HILDALE, Utah - No one in this secluded polygamous town along the Arizona border is necessarily sure what it will look like a month from now. They don't know where they will live, who will live with them or whether they will be torn from their families and neighbors and uprooted two states away.
Or, if they do know, they're not saying. And neither is the man who will make that decision for them, the reclusive prophet of the polygamous Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who reportedly is building a heavily fortified compound in Texas where he and his closest supporters will live.
"I'm not in a position where I would know much about it, so I don't know that I could really comment one way or the other," said church member David Zitting, who also is Hildale's mayor.
Observers of the church, however, are convinced that church prophet Warren Jeffs, who has a reported 50 to 70 wives, is culling his flock and preparing the most devout followers for the move to Texas to avoid prosecution in Utah on allegations of forced child marriages, sexual abuse, welfare fraud and tax evasion.
ERLANGER (KY)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Jim Hannah
Enquirer staff writer
ERLANGER - The Covington Diocese said Friday that it plans to lay off 23 percent of the Catholic Center staff this summer as it continues to cut costs while paying out millions to settle sexual-abuse claims.
The 15 employees to be laid off June 30 are among 65 full- and part-time employees at the Catholic Center, a sprawling campus of buildings off Donaldson Road that serves as home to 26 administrative and pastoral offices.
The diocesan newspaper, The Messenger, published an article Friday saying the "actions are necessary in light of the financial situation of the diocese." Diocesan spokesman and Messenger editor Tim Fitzgerald wouldn't elaborate on what financial situation Bishop Roger Foys was referring to in the article.
The Messenger article chronicled how much had been spent to settle 55 sexual-abuse claims since September 2003. The total amount of those settlements was $10.5 million. The diocese's insurance paid $6.5 million toward the settlements.
The diocese paid the remaining amount, which almost matches what the diocese has previously reported as its annual revenue.
OAKLAND (CA)
Contra Costa Times
Church insurance companies most likely will bear the burden of paying potential settlements and verdicts facing the Oakland Diocese. But the diocese will shoulder some of the cost.
Mark Wiesner said it's too early to say how the diocese will pay its portion of damages or whether that will entail selling church assets.
"We don't really know the numbers yet," Wiesner said.
Plans for building an estimated $131 million cathedral in Oakland probably won't be affected because the mostly lay-driven effort relies on private donations, said Lee Nordlund, spokesman for the Cathedral of Christ the Light Project.
OAKLAND (CA)
Contra Costa Times
By Randy Myers
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Two landmark sex abuse trials involving the Oakland Diocese are slated to get under way next week.
The trials stem from more than 150 sex abuse cases brought against Northern California dioceses in 2002 and 2003.
One in San Francisco heads to trial Monday, while a trial involving a priest who served in at least five parishes in Alameda and Contra Costa counties may be delayed two days.
Stephen McFeely, an attorney for the diocese, said Friday that a mandatory settlement conference ordered by Alameda County Judge Ronald Sabraw, who has been presiding over the 150 cases in pretrial hearings, puts the Oakland Diocese trial on hold. But Larry Drivon, who is one of the lead plaintiff attorneys, said it could begin Monday.
Only nine others among the 150-plus Northern California cases have trial dates so far.
"I'd expect some fireworks from those 11," predicts Dan McNevin of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests.
CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times
• The Rev. Mark Wiesner is finding many ways to develop his speaking skills, and he enjoys all of them
• WHAT HE'S READING: Recently finished "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix;" now reading "Warrior of the Light" by Paulo Coelho and "Wildmen, Warriors and Kings" by Patrick M. Arnold
Speaking the Faith is a monthly conversation with an East Bay religious leader.
This month, Times staff writer Randy Myers speaks with the Rev. Mark Wiesner, priest at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Oakland. In January he became the communications director of the Oakland Diocese, which encompasses Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wiesner was ordained in 1995 and took over at St. Augustine a year ago. He also heads up the Ruach Players, a traveling musical theater troupe that performs "Godspell" as well as a Christmas cabaret show in the Bay Area.
The last few weeks Wiesner's eight-hour-a-week job as diocesan spokesman has been especially busy. He's been answering inquiries about the Pope and about settlement talks in the Diocese's sexual abuse cases in advance of Monday's trial date in one case.
FORT WORTH (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
08:46 PM CST on Friday, March 4, 2005
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH – Former members of Westside Victory Baptist Church describe their ex-pastor as a happy and God-fearing man who delivered doughnuts to neighbors and presided over a close-knit congregation of a few dozen.
Since last spring, however, the virtuous and cheerful image of Larry Neathery has been called into question. In April, he was arrested and then indicted on a charge of indecency with a child. Five more boys he's accused of molesting and eight more charges were added to the case in late December.
Now he's facing nine charges of molesting young boys over a 14-year period and remains in the Tarrant County Jail in lieu of $950,000 bail. The indictments range from indecent exposure to aggravated sexual assault of a child.
"I'm pretty certain that he's not guilty, but at the same time, everyone has faults," said former church member Jim Hughes. "We don't know what people do in their secret lives."
Mr. Neathery's attorney, Tiffany Lewis, could not be reached for comment last week, but she has previously said her client is innocent. The families of those Mr. Neathery is accused of molesting could not be found for comment.
The current pastor of Westside Victory Baptist Church, where Mr. Neathery served for more than a dozen years, was guarded about his assessment of the charges.
"We're not his judge," said Ron Bridges, who served as pastor alongside Mr. Neathery for several years. "God is his judge."
MARYLAND
The Washington Times
By Jon Ward
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A former Catholic priest from Forestville was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison for molesting a 15-year-old boy and sodomizing a 13-year-old girl.
The sentencing follows a guilty plea in December by the ex-priest, Francis A. Benham, who committed the acts 25 years ago.
In return for the plea, Prince George's County Circuit Judge Michelle Hotten sentenced Benham, 67, to 10 years each for the molestation and the sodomy, with all but 18 months suspended.
FALL RIVER (MA)
Herald News
Gregg M. Miliote, Herald News Staff Reporter 03/05/2005
FALL RIVER -- The Fall River Diocese has filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against a retired Cape Cod pastor accused of bilking two parishes he previously served.
Father Bernard Kelly, former pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish in Wood’s Hole and Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellesley, was initially placed on leave after diocesan officials learned he was being questioned by police about a grisly slaying committed by his friend, Paul Nolin.
Nolin was convicted recently of the September 2003 murder of 20-year-old Falmouth resident Jonathan Wessner. Nolin had also previously been convicted of raping a child.
During the investigation into the Wessner murder, police alleged Kelly and Nolin had a sexual relationship, something his attorneys have denied even after investigators revealed Kelly had changed his will to make Nolin one of his two main benefactors.
CAMDEN (NJ)
Courier Post
By RENEE WINKLER
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
A former Roman Catholic priest, who served in four Camden County parishes in the 1990s, was sentenced Friday to eight years in state prison for sexually assaulting a boy a decade ago.
James Hopkins, 61, had pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault between May and December of 1995.
Hopkins, who was living in Florida when he was arrested in April 2003, will be sent to the state's Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center at Avenel, a facility for sex offenders diagnosed as compulsive and repetitive.
Inmates detained there generally serve a longer portion of their prison terms, often the whole sentence, than prisoners who get regularly scheduled parole reviews.
Superior Court Presiding Criminal Judge Linda G. Baxter said she took that into consideration in handing down Hopkins' sentence. A plea agreement between Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Donna Spinosi and defense attorney Robert Rosenberg included a maximum 10-year term.
The victim, now 20, did not attend the sentencing. His mother said he refuses to return to New Jersey.
DUDLEY (MA)
Webster Times
BY JOYCE KELLY
TIMES STAFF WRITER
DUDLEY — A retired priest is angry because he thinks whatever his accusers say is considered “gospel truth.”
Of those involved in this scenario, one is the aforementioned man of the cloth, one a gas station attendant, another a neighborhood kid, two a mother and son, and the rest a few other common young men.
Rev. Thomas Teczar, of Dudley, is no longer preaching these days; ironically, it is the others who have won the blind faith of the masses, he says.
The members of this short list — a mix of former parishioners and locals — have all claimed Rev. Teczar sexually abused minors.
Most recently, he was accused of sexual abuse by two Texas men known only as “John Doe I” and “John Doe II,” who also allege the Worcester Catholic Diocese and Fort Worth, Texas Diocese, conspired to help him avoid arrest.
The men filed a lawsuit in Tarrant County District Court in Forth Worth, stating that Rev. Teczar sexually abused them at 12 years old, while he was the pastor of St. Rita's Church in Ranger, a small town in northeastern Texas.
"It's horrible, absolutely horrible. It's just awful, unconditionally awful. Finding this out was like hearing, 'You've got cancer and you've only got 30 days to live," said Rev. Teczar, in a telephone interview from his home last week.
NAPLES (FL)
Naples Daily News
By JANINE A. ZEITLIN, jazeitlin@naplesnews.com
March 5, 2005
South Florida's Catholic hierarchy paid out about $1.5 million in recent months to settle three sexual misconduct cases targeting a former priest and teacher at the St. Ann Catholic parish in Naples.
The lawyer who handled the cases suspects there are potential victims yet to break their silence about William Romero's time at St. Ann school and church in 1975-76.
He said the Archdiocese of Miami, which included St. Ann during Romero's year there, hasn't thoroughly probed what transpired.
"If nobody else comes forward, it will mean that this episode in the history of Naples and the history of the Catholic Church never gets fully investigated," said Ted Zelman, the Naples attorney who represented clients in Romero sexual misconduct cases. "I believe they acknowledge what had happened but as far as really accepting their culpability, that didn't occur."
His two clients recently opted to settle to forgo shame of reliving the alleged abuse in a courtroom, he said.
Romero, 68, retired in 1995 and resigned from the clergy in 2003 after allegations resurfaced.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- An appeal of the threatened blanket excommunication of scores of Lincoln Catholics has been rejected by the Vatican, the Lincoln Diocese confirmed Friday.
But some cannon law experts questioned whether such a blanket action was valid.
"It's against the whole spirit of Church law," said Monsignor Kenneth Lasch, a retired canon lawyer in Morristown, N.J.
Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz ordered Lincoln Catholics in March 1996 to sever their ties to 12 groups or face excommunication two months later. The bishop said the groups -- including Call to Action, several Masonic organizations, and abortion-rights groups Planned Parenthood and Catholics for a Free Choice -- contradict and imperil Catholic faith. ...
The appeal of Bruskewitz's order had faded from the public light until this week, when an official with the Lincoln chapter of Call to Action told The Associated Press that he was denied communion by Bruskewitz and two other priests in the past month.
John Krejci, a former priest and co-founder of the Nebraska chapter of Call to Action, said Bruskewitz denied him communion at Sacred Heart parish on Feb. 7, with "an unfriendly wave of his hand."
Call to Action has long been critical of how the church handled allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.
UNITED STATES
The Conservative Voice
By Matt C. Abbott
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, held from 1962 to 1965 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, had as its objectives the renewal of the Catholic Church and to modernize its forms and institutions.1 Unfortunately, during and after the Council, the Zeitgeist – the German term for “spirit of the age” – was largely responsible for the decline in certain key aspects of the Catholic Church in the U.S. These aspects are the number of priests and religious, weekly church attendance by its members, and the state of Catholic marriage. The Zeitgeist also fostered the rise of dissident Catholic organizations and individuals who have often misrepresented the teachings of Vatican II in order to promote their own agendas.
Kenneth C. Jones of St. Louis researched and compiled a number of statistics which he titled “Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II,” published in 2003. Among his findings:2 While the number of priests in the U.S. more than doubled to 58,000 between 1930 and 1965, since then, that number has fallen to 45,000, and by 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left; the number of seminarians declined over 90 percent between 1965 and 2002; in 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns, but by 2002, that number had fallen to 75,000; a 1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended Mass on Sundays, but a recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now attend; Catholic marriages have fallen in number by one-third since 1965, while the annual number of annulments rose from 338 in 1968 to 50,000 in 2002. ...
Also between 1960 and 1991, child abuse increased more than 500 percent.12 This, of course, has been a problem even in the Church, specifically in regard to sexual abuse by members of the clergy and religious, which has made national and world headlines in the last few years. A study commissioned in 2002 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), done in response to hundreds of sex-abuse accusations that were made in nearly every U.S. Catholic diocese, found that from 1950 to 2002, there were 10,667 cases of abuse.13 Interestingly, the study found that 81 percent of sex crimes committed against children by Catholic priests during the past 52 years were homosexual men preying on boys.14
Such is an illustration of how the Cultural/Sexual Revolution influenced – perhaps “infected” would be a better term – a number of Church officials who seemingly let sexual deviants into the priesthood. Indeed, one could even say that deviancy was promoted at certain seminaries. Catholic author Michael S. Rose, in his 2002 book Goodbye! Good Men, quotes Father John Trigilio about an incident at the seminary in the 1980’s: 15
PENNSAUKEN (NJ)
NBC 10
POSTED: 3:41 pm EST March 4, 2005
UPDATED: 3:57 pm EST March 4, 2005
PENNSAUKEN, N.J. -- It was judgment day for a former Catholic priest who admitted to molesting a 10-year-old boy nearly a decade ago.
Under a plea deal, James Hopkins was sentenced Friday to eight years in a special treatment center for sex offenders.
Hopkins, 61, will serve his time at the adult diagnostic treatment center in Avenel, N.J.
"I don't know if any amount of time can take away from the amount of pain already caused," said Catherine Norton, James Norton's mother.
Hopkins admitted to fondling the victim -- now 20 years old -- at the boy's home in Pennsauken in the summer of 1995. Jonathan Norton was an altar boy at St. Peter's Church in Merchantville at the time.
CAMDEN (NJ)
CBS 3
Mar 4, 2005 1:51 pm US/Eastern
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) A judge in Camden County sentenced a defrocked Catholic priest to eight years in prison Thursday for sexually assaulting a former altar boy ten years ago.
James Hopkins admitted fondling the then-ten-year-old at Saint Aloysius Church in Oaklyn.
The allegations against Hopkins surfaced near the height of a national scandal revolving around sexual abuse by clergy in 2002.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by GUSTAVO ARELLANO
On Jan. 3, the Diocese of Orange settled 87 sex-abuse claims for $100 million, the largest settlement of its kind in the Roman Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history. It was then, and perhaps only then, that readers of The Orange County Register finally realized the scope of the scandal: in the past year, Orange County’s paper of record left the investigations and breaking stories to the Weekly and William Lobdell of the Los Angeles Times, contenting itself with press-release rewrites and press-conference coverage. Emblematic of the Register’s coverage was a Dec. 5 person-in-the-pew story, in which reporter Greg Hardesty spotlighted Catholics who blamed the scandal on the “liberal elite.”
But now, at last, the Register has focused its mighty resources on the scandal . . . in Alaska.
In a Sunday, Feb. 27, front-page story, Register reporters Chris Knap, Rachanee Srisavadasi and Tony Saavedra spent 1,897 words retelling the horrors of the Diocese of Fairbanks, where 58 people have filed claims against priests. The local hook was John Manly, a Costa Mesa attorney who represented 30 Orange diocese victims and is now helping Alaska attorneys file civil suits and depose church leaders. But this is the same John Manly who earned the nickname “Mad Dog” by insisting Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown release all priestly personnel files—a bit of trivia glossed over by Knap, Srisavadasi and Saavedra.
So why would the Register put three reporters on a Catholic Church sex-abuse story far, far away while continuing to steadfastly ignore the hometown fiasco in the Diocese of Orange?
VATICAN CITY
Catholic News
A US Catholic newspaper has revealed that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano asked his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice to intervene in a sex abuse law suit, during her visit to the Vatican last month.
TheAbuse Tracker (NCR) says Cardinal Sodano asked Dr Rice to intervene in a Kentucky law suit that is seeking to hold the Vatican financially responsible for the sexual abuse of minors.
Church sources told the paper that Rice was asked by Cardinal Angelo Sodano whether the United States government could stop a class-action lawsuit currently before a United States District Court in Louisville that seeks to hold the Vatican financially responsible for the sexual abuse of minors.
VATICAN CITY
WMMB
United Press International
Vatican officials used last month's visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to ask for help with a federal class action suit in Kentucky.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state, asked Rice if Washington could kill the lawsuit, filed in Louisville, Ky., seeking to hold the Vatican financially responsible for the sexual abuse of minors, theAbuse Tracker said Friday.
Rice reportedly explained that under U.S. law, foreign states are required to assert claims of sovereign immunity themselves before U.S. courts.
Mark Chopko, general counsel for the U.S. bishops' conference, said it's a fairly routine step for the Holy See to request action from the State Department, which can ask the Department of Justice to recommend against moving forward because of the Vatican's sovereign status.
VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, did not ask U.S. Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice to intervene in a lawsuit against the Vatican, an informed Vatican official told Catholic News Service March 3.
The official said that during a Feb. 8 meeting at the Vatican, Cardinal Sodano simply expressed "surprise" over a class-action lawsuit naming the Holy See as the responsible party for the sexual abuse of minors by U.S. clergy.
In June, an attorney in Louisville, Ky., filed a lawsuit against the Holy See, accusing it of being responsible for the sexual abuse of children by clergy in the United States. The attorney, William McMurray, is also seeking monetary damages for the plaintiffs.
Cardinal Sodano "took up the issue (with Rice) and said how he had been surprised the Vatican was named" as the defendant in the lawsuit, said the Vatican official.
He said Cardinal Sodano never would have asked Rice, as head of the U.S. State Department, an executive body, to intervene in a judicial matter.
"He knows the separation of powers is sacrosanct," he said.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor
By ALLISON STEELE
Monitor staff
March 04. 2005 8:00AM
A new Web site inspired by the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal will allow victims of sexual abuse to report crimes anonymously to the state attorney general's office. Law enforcement officials and victim advocates hope that the confidentiality of victimpower.org will provide a form of gentle encouragement for victims, who can feel too paralyzed by feelings of shame to come forward.
Unlike anonymous hotlines or other methods of offering tips, the site will allow victims and investigators to communicate with each other. Investigators can answer questions and victims can tell as many or as few details as they wish. That back-and-forth may help investigators gather information about particular abusers and could lead to arrests, even if some victims choose to remain anonymous.
"Often there's no way of pursuing tips because there isn't enough information," said Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker, one of the prosecutors who led the state's 2002 investigation into reports of clergy sex abuse in New Hampshire. "This may be a tool to help change that."
Victimpower.org was created by Diane Williams Galebach and her husband, a couple from Andover, Mass., with a large Catholic family who were outraged by the clergy abuse scandal. They funded the nonprofit site out of their pocket, designed it with help from some college students and launched it two months ago.
COVINGTON (KY)
Kentucky Post
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
The Diocese of Covington may be close to settling the class-action lawsuit that alleges a half-century of covering up sexual abuse by its priests.
Talks aimed at achieving an out-of-court settlement "have been productive and have resolved a number of difficult issues," both sides said in a court document filed in Boone Circuit Court.
In the document, the attorneys once again are asking Special Judge John Potter to delay the trial that is scheduled to begin next month.
"While there are issues that remain to be resolved, the parties believe that those issues ultimately can be resolved, and that a settlement will be accomplished with some additional work," said the document, signed by attorneys Carrie Huff for the diocese and Robert Steinberg for those who filed the lawsuit.
INDIA
Reuters
Fri Mar 4, 2005 09:01 AM ET
BOMBAY (Reuters) - Christians in India will step up protests against the screening of "Sins", a Bollywood film that shows a Catholic priest in a cassock and cross having sex with a woman half his age, a religious group said on Friday.
The film prompted an attack this week by protestors on a theatre in Bombay, India's film capital and home to a large Catholic community. A further protest is planned on Saturday.
Christians object to the scene mixing sex with the cross, their main religious symbol.
"We want the objectionable scenes in the film to be deleted or the movie be completely withdrawn," Joseph Dias, general secretary of Catholic Secular Forum, told a news conference.
ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
There are three key players in this controversy today.
Everyone knows who Condoleezza Rice is.
Everyone knows who Cardinal Roger Mahony is.
Not everyone knows the third party - Cardinal Angelo Sodano of Rome. He is a close, trusted advisor to the Pope, a top veteran church official who serves now as the Vatican Secretary of State.
Last month, Sodano asked Condoleezza Rice to block a class action lawsuit brought by clergy sex abuse victims that includes the Vatican as a defendant.
We know this because of an exclusive story today by the top American journalist in Rome, John Allen of theAbuse Tracker .
http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/bn030305.htm
It is now clear that top Vatican officials doing what American bishops often do - trying to use legal technicalities and political connections to evade justice and accountability in sex crimes cases.
IRELAND
One in Four
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times
The Ferns inquiry, which is investigating how allegations of clerical child sex abuse were handled in the mainly Co Wexford diocese, is not now expected to submit its report to the Department of Health before the end of March.
The inquiry, which held its first hearing in September 2003, is dealing with three outstanding matters and is awaiting responses from third parties.
Following the resignation of Dr Brendan Comiskey as bishop of Ferns, George Bermingham SC was asked in 2002 by the then minister for health, Micheál Martin, to investigate which would be the best form of inquiry to look at how allegations of clerical abuse were dealt with in Ferns.
IRELAND
One in Four
from RTE
A man who was abused by a care worker in an institution in Kilkenny when he was a child was awarded €370,000 damages in the High Court today.
Raymond Noctor, 45, of Leinster Crescent, Dublin Road, Co Carlow sued the Minister for Education, the State, the South Eastern Health Board and St Joseph's Industrial School in Kilkenny.
Liability was admitted for the gross indecency and assault perpetrated against Mr Noctor and the High Court was asked to assess damages only.
IRELAND
One in Four
from RTE News
A report by the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee into the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme has been delayed, to allow the Committee to study yesterday's High Court judgement.
The report, which had been due for publication tomorrow, had been widely expected to criticise the way in which the Government indemnified the religious orders against abuse claims.
However, it is now likely to be delayed for at least a week while committee members study the High Court judgement, and assess the implications, if any, for the scheme.
The total money offered by the Residential Institutions Redress Board since it was set up now exceeds €140m.
IRELAND
One in Four
from The Irish Examiner
Hundreds of abuse victims are reportedly set to bypass the State’s redress scheme following a High Court decision to award €370,000 to a man abused at a Kilkenny industrial school.
Reports this morning said the size of the award was expected to prompt victims to take court action in pursuit of compensation rather than opt for a hearing before the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
The reports said the average award currently being made by the board was €77,000.
IRELAND
One in Four
Liam Reid - Irish Times
The Dáil Public Accounts Committee (Pac) has delayed publication of a detailed report on the State's redress scheme, to obtain legal advice on the significance of Tuesday's High Court case in which a victim of sexual abuse was awarded €370,000 compensation. The report was due to have been published today.
A draft of the report, seen by The Irish Times, is highly critical of the way the indemnity and redress deal between the State and religious orders was negotiated.
According to the draft, the committee believes the Department of Education failed to use the data it had in estimating the potential liability of the State for potential compensation claims, and that an "underestimation of the final liability had implications for the negotiating mandate adopted by the State".
But the committee may decide to amend some findings and recommendations if it is advised that Tuesday's case will lead to a significant number of compensation claimants abandoning the redress board to seek potentially higher awards in court.
IRELAND
One in Four
by Mary Raftery of The Irish Times
As a display of hypocrisy in action on an extraordinary scale, certain events in Kilkenny over the past three decades are in a league of their own.
During the 1970s, the town was the centre of a unique experiment. Led by the local Catholic Church, a progressive scheme was developed to provide State-funded social services to those most in need. It was devised as a possible prototype for the delivery of such services to the entire country, and was at the time universally praised.
In the midst of what became probably the most socially conscious part of the country was an institution called St Joseph's. It was run by the same order of nuns spearheading reform across the county - the Irish Sisters of Charity - and catered in the main for the children of the poor.
The change in attitude towards poverty sweeping the rest of Kilkenny passed St Joseph's by. Its old, industrial-school culture remained largely untouched. Behind the high walls, where its small inmates were incarcerated, we now know that the nuns employed at least three paedophiles to look after a group of about 30 boys.
GREECE
Chicago Tribune
Tribune news services
Published March 4, 2005
ATHENS -- The head of the powerful Orthodox Church in Greece has rejected growing calls for him to step down but said two of his close aides had been suspended amid mounting scandals.
"An archbishop does not resign," Archbishop Christodoulos, 66, told reporters after two senior bishops and the head of a parish priests' association said he should quit.
The calls resulted from revelations that the archbishop was acquainted with lower-ranking clergy directly implicated in trial-fixing and other major corruption allegations.
The Orthodox Church, the official state religion, has been stunned by daily allegations of embezzlement, corruption and sexual escapades.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor
By ANNE SAUNDERS
Associated Press Writer
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- The attorney general's office announced Thursday that it has teamed up with a Massachusetts-based Web site that allows people to make anonymous reports of sexual abuse.
The Web site, VictimPower.org, grew out of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, but allows anyone to report abuse.
"We're encouraged and hopeful that this is a new tool to combat abuse in the state," said Senior Assistant Attorney General William Delker.
The announcement came on the two-year anniversary of the release of thousands of documents related to the state's investigation of how the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester handled reports of abuse by clergy.
"Time and time again what we heard is the shame and humiliation that these victims felt coming forward and talking about this kind of crime," Delker said. "It was this shame and humiliation that allowed this type of abuse to go on for so long.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Nashua Telegraph
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN, Telegraph Staff
landrigank@telegraph-nh.com
Published: Friday, Mar. 4, 2005
CONCORD - A state prosecutor pledged his office would closely monitor a new nationwide Web site that allows people to anonymously report cases of sexual abuse by clergy.
VictimPower.org is an “important tool” developed by an Andover, Mass., couple that could help investigators look into new allegations of abuse, said Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker, lead prosecutor in the state investigation of abuse by Catholic priests.“This is not a panacea by any means,” Delker said. “It is certainly an important tool in the fight against sexual abuse.”
On a related front, an existing Web site to track abusive clergy, Bishop-accountability.org, has completed a comprehensive list of New Hampshire clergy accused of abuse.
The announcements came on the two-year anniversary of the landmark settlement between then-Attorney General Philip McLaughlin and Roman Catholic Bishop John McCormack that ended state plans to charge church officials criminally in connection with sexual abuse cases. Bishop-accountability.org identifies 62 individuals, 51 of them priests with the Diocese of Manchester, seven from other religious orders such as Brothers of the Sacred Heart at Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, and four more from other dioceses.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
Dan Rodricks
ACOUPLE of weeks from now, Kurt Gladsky, who says he was sexually abused while a student at a Catholic high school 36 years ago, will again leave his home in Florida, fly to Maryland and ask legislators here to open wider a window of justice.
For the second time in three years, Gladsky will testify in favor of legislation giving victims of childhood sexual abuse until they are 46 years old - that is, 28 years past the age of majority - to bring suit against those who molested them. Maryland law allows such lawsuits only before victims reach their 25th birthday; victims' advocates say that's not enough time. The House of Delegates bill, 1376, also asks for a one-year open filing period, so all victims, no matter their age, can sue.
In recent years, some states enacted extensions for filing civil actions, and some had wider windows on the books before the scandal in the Catholic church.
"Maryland is one of the most pedophile-friendly states in the country," says Joanne Suder, a Baltimore attorney with a specialty in pedophile and sexual abuse cases.
OAKLAND (CA)
CBS 5
03/03/05 9:00 PST
OAKLAND (BCN)
Diocese of Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron met today with a group of sex-abuse survivors to discuss their concerns about how the diocese is handling the investigation of a popular Berkeley pastor who's been accused of abusing a parishioner.
David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said the meeting was productive in that he believes Vigneron understands the alleged "damage that's been done" by Father George Crespin of St. Joseph the Worker and Crespin's supporters.
Crespin, 69, retired in early February after being accused of sexual misconduct in incidents 30 years ago.
Clohessy said SNAP members asked to meet with Bishop Vigneron because they feared that diocese officials were backing off their investigation of Crespin under pressure from Crespin and hundreds of supporters at his church.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By DERRICK NUNNALLY
dnunnally@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 3, 2005
The alleged 1970s child molestations by now-deceased Catholic priest Siegfried Widera have drawn a second lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee over its handling of the situation.
The new lawsuit was filed Thursday by two men who claim they were abused as boys between 1973 and 1976 by Widera, when he has assigned to St. Andrew Parish in Delavan. The suit claims that current Superior Diocese Bishop Raphael Fliss - then the Milwaukee Archdiocese secretary - knew that Widera, who had been convicted earlier in 1973 of "sexual perversion" involving a boy in Ozaukee County, had molested boys again but didn't tell police or parishioners. The civil fraud lawsuit for unspecified damages claims that had either man's family known then that Widera "was a danger to children," neither would have been in a position to be molested.
Widera committed suicide in 2004 by leaping out of a third-story window in Mexico as authorities drew closer to arresting him on 42 molestation counts. He was 62.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
Friday, 4 March 2005
A former Anglican minister has been committed to stand trial in the District Court in Adelaide, charged with sex offences dating back to the early 1970s.
Raymond Frederick Ayles, 60, is from the town of Eton near Mackay in Queensland.
He pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today to one count of buggery and six counts of indecent assault.
NEW YORK
Troy Record
By: Robert Cristo, The Record 03/04/2005
An 81-year-old Amsterdam woman accused a deceased Schenectady priest of violently raping her and past leaders of the Albany Diocese of forcing her to put the baby they had together up for adoption more than 60 years ago.
In the early 1940s, Lorraine Szczepanik was living in Schenectady where she says Rev. Joseph N. Chmielewski, who assisted at parishes in Watervliet, Troy, Colonie, Amsterdam and Schenectady, invited her to the rectory to give her a Mass card.
In a letter through her attorney John Aretakis, Szczepanik recounted how the encounter started off innocently with them having a sandwich and soda together. However, things quickly degenerated as the priest allegedly starting drinking too much wine and began acting wild.
She then goes on to recount how Chmielewski allegedly raped her while he was in a drunken rage.
"This priest raped her and inflicted pain on her that lasted for a lifetime, and now she's exposing him," said Aretakis, who represents numerous alleged victims of clergy sex abuse. "She still cries like it happened yesterday. ... She lived a shattered life."
MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
BY STEVE SCOTT
Pioneer Press
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis revealed Thursday that one new alleged perpetrator of child sex abuse was identified during the most recent year surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Eighteen new victims came forward to the archdiocese in the 14 months ending in August, the bishops' auditing firm reported two weeks ago. Although the archdiocese previously said no new alleged perpetrators had been identified, a spokesman said one was discovered upon further review.
That priest died in 1971, and the alleged abuse occurred 40 years ago, said archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath. The archdiocese does not identify alleged perpetrators who are deceased, McGrath said.
"We will identify perpetrators who are still in active ministry, if anyone comes forward,'' he said.
A local victims support group wants any alleged perpetrator to be publicly identified, along with a work history listing their assignments.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Friday, March 4, 2005
More than 20 percent of Boston-area Catholics who stopped giving to the archdiocese's flagship fund-raiser after the clergy sexual abuse scandal have returned as donors, church officials said yesterday.
Overall participation in the Annual Catholic Appeal is up 19 percent over last year, raising a total of $10.85 million, officials said. And more than 6,000, or 12 percent, of this year's donors are new contributors.
``Donors who stepped away are returning, and new donors are coming forward,'' said Damien DeVasto, the appeal's director.
Since 2002, the appeal has generated 22 percent more funds and 32 percent more donors, increases DeVasto attributed to a variety of factors, including Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's leadership and parishioners' commitment to the church's mission. The appeal funds more than 80 programs serving hundreds of thousands of Catholics and non-Catholics in 144 eastern Massachusetts communities.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
The Vatican reportedly has asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to intervene in a Louisville lawsuit that seeks damages for sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests across the United States over more than seven decades.
The request reportedly occurred when Rice met last month with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's secretary of state, as part of her tour of Europe.
The American-basedAbuse Tracker , a weekly newspaper, reported from unnamed sources that Sodano asked Rice to support the church's argument that the lawsuit should be dismissed.
The Vatican contends that, as a sovereign nation, it is protected under U.S. law from lawsuits such as the Louisville case attorney William McMurry filed last year.
McMurry represents three men who say they were molested by Kentucky priests in incidents dating to 1928.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
Bishop Leonard Blair, in an unprecedented public letter, apologized to hundreds of members of a West Toledo Catholic parish for the actions of a former priest removed from ministry for allegedly sexually abusing young girls in the 1970s.
The letter was mailed this week to parishioners at St. Pius X Church as part of a legal settlement between the diocese, the parish, and Teresa Bombrys, 43, who accused former associate pastor Chet Warren of molesting her when she was a student at the parish's grade school.
The bishop wrote that Ms. Bombrys' complaint was investigated by the diocese and "determined to be credible."
"On behalf of the Diocese of Toledo and Saint Pius X Parish, I apologize to Teresa Bombrys for the harm she suffered," the bishop stated. "I continue to pray for her and all the other innocent victims of sexual abuse and ask your prayers as well as those who have been harmed."
In addition to the letter - the first of its kind ever sent by the Toledo diocese - the bishop plans to preside at a healing Mass at the church sometime later this year, Sally Oberski, diocesan spokesman, said.
CALIFORNIA
KTVU
POSTED: 8:07 pm PST March 3, 2005
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw has ordered a mandatory settlement conference to be held on Monday for 54 sexual abuse cases against the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland.
Sabraw is overseeing more than 150 lawsuits in a mega case alleging sexual abuse by priests throughout Northern California. He said in his order released today that insurance companies for the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland must attend the settlement conference "with full authority personally to act on these claims and cases."
The settlement conference is set for 9 a.m. Monday before Judge David Hunter in Alameda County Superior Court in Hayward.
Diocese of Oakland spokesman Father Mark Wiesner said the diocese's attorney, Stephen McFeely, told him that the mandatory settlement conference will take precedence over a sex abuse trial that had been scheduled to start in Hayward on Monday.
That trial and a trial set to begin in San Francisco are to be the first church negligence civil trials stemming from a 2002 state law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on damage claims against institutions such as religious organizations that allegedly gave known child molesters access to more victims.
MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Warren Wolfe, Star Tribune
March 4, 2005
Since late 2003, 18 people have told the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that they were sexually abused as children by priests, nuns and other Catholic church workers, officials said Thursday.
Ten of those cases involved priests from the archdiocese who no longer are in active ministry. The most recent case stems from 1980.
The others were filed by local people against priests, nuns or monks from elsewhere in the country, said Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the Twin Cities archdiocese.
"The good news, if you can call it that, is that only one of the 10 was a new name, a priest who died 34 years ago," he said. "The others had been previously identified publicly" as alleged perpetrators. He said he did not have permission to name the 10.
It was the archdiocese's second accounting of sexual abuse. Such accounting is required of each of the nation's 195 dioceses under a policy adopted three years ago by American bishops in response to a nationwide sex abuse scandal in the church.
One of the newest suits was filed Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court. A man in his 30s claims that he was abused 20 years ago by a Dominican monk, now dead, who was his religion and sex education teacher at a Minneapolis Catholic school. The archdiocese is not a defendant.
VERMONT
Times Argus
March 4, 2005
By Wilson Ring Associated Press
BURLINGTON — A longtime Rhode Island priest who has worked the last four years at the Vatican envoy's office in Washington has been selected by Pope John Paul II to be the new Roman Catholic bishop of Burlington.
Monsignor Salvatore R. Matano, 58, will serve as coadjutor, or assistant, bishop to the incumbent, Bishop Kenneth Angell, and then take over the Burlington Diocese, which includes all of Vermont, on Angell's retirement, scheduled for August after he turns 75.
"I have been given a great gift," Matano said at a Burlington news conference with Angell. "To be a bishop means to take the words of Jesus very seriously: 'Pick up your cross and follow me.'
"There are many challenges today which face the community of believers in the Catholic Church," he said, adding that "the bishop is looked to for guidance." ...
But Angell said at the news conference that the most difficult challenge he faced in Vermont was leading the church during the revelations about the sexual abuse of children by priests.
"People have been so shocked by all of this and it's a wonderful compliment to us really, in the sense that they expect so much more of us than anyone else and we shouldn't fail them," Angell said. "It's been very difficult and difficult for these priests too (who) have been in trouble.
"The victims first and foremost have my concern. After that I think of the priests how because of one, one little lapse or something, something terrible happened. I can't help but feel sorry for them. I decry what they did."
Matano also said the church was going through a challenging period. About 75 percent of Vermont Catholics do not participate in the life of the church, Matano said.
SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Times
Seattle
Four men filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Seattle Archdiocese, accusing church leaders of failing to protect minors from former Spokane priest Patrick O'Donnell when the priest served at Seattle's St. Paul Church from 1976-78.
O'Donnell, who was removed from ministry in the mid-1980s and has admitted to molesting at least 30 boys, was sent by the Spokane bishop to Seattle in 1976 for sexual-deviancy treatment after an allegation arose in Spokane. Leaders of the Spokane Diocese have contended that the Seattle Archdiocese and St. Paul Church were fully informed of O'Donnell's history at the time he was sent to Seattle.
OAKLAND (CA)
Alameda Times-Star
By Susan McDonough, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND — Sex abuse victims protesting outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland left their picket signs in the bushes Thursday after being invited inside for a surprise meeting with Bishop Allen Vigneron.
Group members said they came to try to deliver a letter to the bishop detailing their frustration over the diocese's handling of a Berkeley priest, the Rev. George Crespin.
Crespin, the head pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in downtown Berkeley, resigned in February after being accused of sexual misconduct 30 years ago.
A spokesman for the diocese said the bishop was happy to meet Thursday with members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Local SNAP members say an article about Crespin in The Catholic Voice, a diocese publication, and comments by the accused priest created hostility toward his accuser and violated the church's own policy of protecting victims of sexual abuse.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by GUSTAVO ARELLANO
Document No. 5 isn’t a secret diocesan record but a list of every Orange County priest ever accused of pedophilia since 1958 and the parishes that they once roamed. For easier access, we’re presenting it in groups of three, with each list containing three priests, the years in which they served and their parishes. Some fun facts:
*Year with the most accused pedophiles: 1976 (17)
*Parish with the highest tally: St. Edward, Dana Point (John Lenihan, Denis Lyons, Michael Pecharich, Henry Perez, Gerald Plesetz, Siegfried Widera)
*Priest with the most assignments: Daniel Murray, Eleuterio Ramos and Gerardo Tanilong: five each. Ramos, however, gets extra points for going to Tijuana after getting suspended here!
*Parishes that housed two or more accused pedophiles at the same time: St. Boniface, Anaheim (1994: John Lenihan, Daniel Murray, Gerardo Tanilong), St. Cecilia, Tustin (1976: Michael Harris, Gerald Plesetz), St. Edward, Dana Point (1996-2001: John Lenihan, Denis Lyons), St. John the Baptist, Costa Mesa (1987: Denis Lyons, Gary Pacheco), St. Pius V, Buena Park (1976: Arthur Fernando, Denis Lyons)
MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune
If anyone is shocked to hear that a former Superior priest managed to amass and distribute kiddie porn while supposedly locked up for child molestation, brace yourself for more horror stories if the nation's Catholic bishops relax their abuse-prevention measures this spring.
That's a possibility because the much-touted "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," adopted in 2002 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to address clergy sexual abuse at the height of the scandal, expired this week. The rules, which require mandatory reporting of abuse claims to civil authorities as well as background checks of church employees dealing with children, received Vatican approval in March 2003 as "particular law" affecting all U.S. parishes (but none elsewhere in the world) for two years. But it must be reviewed by the bishops at their June meeting to remain in force.
Yet even with those measures in place, they did nothing to prevent the Rev. David Malsch -- a one-time cleric at St. Patrick's parish in Superior convicted of child enticement -- from receiving and disseminating child pornography at the Missouri home for troubled priests, where he remained in civil commitment after serving a two-year prison term. On Monday, Malsch, 66, pleaded guilty to the child pornography charges for which he faces at least five additional years in prison.
That a facility approved for civil commitment of sex offenders could have allowed Malsch to continue his abhorrent behavior is disturbing. That he should have been committed to the porous Wounded Brothers facility -- run by the Franciscan order but ultimately the church that failed to turn him over to authorities when allegations first surfaced in the 1980s -- is truly disconcerting. And it speaks to the inability of the church to control its bad apples, even after they have been brought to justice.
WATERLOO (IA)
Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Assistant City Editor
WATERLOO --- When the Archdiocese of Dubuque responded in 1954 to a child sexual abuse complaint against a priest in Oelwein, it followed its required procedures in place at that time, Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus said Wednesday.
The complaint, against the Rev. William Goltz, was the basis of a lawsuit filed Friday by an anonymous plaintiff in Fayette County District Court against the archdiocese and the priest.
The suit alleges that Goltz asked the alleged victim, 13 at the time, to help him wash a car and then drive it to dry it off. They drove to a quarry outside Oelwein where Goltz allegedly sexually abused the boy and showed him illicit photos.
Hanus noted that, according to the suit, when the abuse complaint was made to the church, the archdiocese immediately removed the priest and "followed its required procedures and instituted a church trial against the accused."
That church trial was instituted by then-Dubuque Archbishop Leo Binz. Only one such trial has been held in the archdiocese's 168-year history.
"That response was typical of Archbishop Leo Binz. He considered sexual abuse of minors to be 'the worst crime.' " Hanus wrote in a statement. "He would have followed the canon law procedures required in place at that time."
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Tribune
By Joline Gutierrez Krueger
March 3, 2005
He had pushed it away, the memories of what he says happened to him in his youth in Los Alamos at the hands of a Roman Catholic priest his parents thought they could trust.
He thought he was the only one.
But recently, when his wife scrolled through a Web site dedicated to the New Mexico victims of priest sex abuse and found the name that had tormented him for nearly three decades, the memories flooded back.
The priest, she learned, was still active in an Albuquerque parish and a Catholic school. And like her husband, other men had made accusations of sexual abuse against the priest.
"That's when he learned he was not the only one," said Steven Rabi, director of the New Mexico chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, which runs the Web site. "That's when he reached out."
The man, now in his 40s and living out of state, is the latest to allege sexual misconduct by the longtime Albuquerque priest.
Despite the archdiocese's naming of the priest in its response to the allegation Wednesday, The Tribune is not naming him or the parish with which he is affiliated because no criminal charges have been filed.
NORWICH (CT)
Journal Inquirer
By Tom Breen, Journal Inquirer March 03, 2005
Is it worse for a Roman Catholic priest to give muddled homilies and run a private charity inefficiently, or to post graphic descriptions of his homosexual encounters with a subordinate on an Internet site featuring photographs of naked men and a priest with his arm around a young boy?
That's a question parishioners at St. Bernard Catholic Church in the Rockville section of Vernon could ask, based on the difference in treatment accorded to the Rev. Justinian B. Rweyemamu, a parochial vicar there, and to priests in the Diocese of Portland, Maine, where the current bishop of Norwich was an auxiliary bishop until 2003.
The bishop, the Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, has never been accused of any wrongdoing in Maine. But some Catholics there say Cote and his superior, Bishop Joseph Gerry, were too slow to discipline three priests involved with a pornographic Internet site -- including one priest who lived with Cote.
By contrast, the Norwich diocese has been swift in its efforts to remove Rweyemamu from the parish, charging him first with ministerial problems like poor homilies and later with unspecified mismanagement of a private charity.
NEBRASKA
Lincoln Journal Star
BY KEVIN O'HANLON / The Associated Press
An official with a Catholic reform group that has criticized the church's handling of priest sex-abuse cases says he was denied communion by Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz and two other priests.
John Krejci, a former priest and co-founder of the Nebraska chapter of Call to Action, said Bruskewitz denied him communion at Sacred Heart parish on Feb. 7, with "an unfriendly wave of his hand."
"It was kind of like, "Go away!," Krejci said. "Then he spun around and went back to the alter."
Bruskewitz said nothing, Krejci said.
Call to Action has long been critical of how the church handled allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.
Nebraska's diocese in Lincoln was the only one in the nation to refuse to participate in the Catholic church's sex-abuse survey; Bruskewitz said it was flawed.
The alleged incident with Krejci came some nine years after he and members of several other groups were excommunicated by Bruskewitz — a decision Krejci said is still on appeal to the Vatican.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Duluth News Tribune
RYAN NAKASHIMA
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE - Two victims of clergy abuse filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee of fraud and saying a former official of the archdiocese who now serves as bishop of Superior helped cover up the offending priest's history of abuse.
The male victims were minors when they were abused on "dozens of occasions" by the late Rev. Siegfried Widera from 1973 to 1976, said Peter Isely, a spokesman for a victims group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
The abuse occurred after Widera had been convicted of sexual perversion with a teenager in 1973 and after the archdiocese transferred him without warning the public to the St. Andrew's parish in Delavan from Port Washington, the suit said.
UNITED STATES
Hartford Courant
March 3, 2005
By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR, Courant Staff Writer Despite the piles of data on sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church being released annually, victims' advocates continue to express disappointment with the process, charging that the U.S. bishops' "self-reported" audits have not provided the answers that advocates seek.
In addition, a change in the reporting method that begins this year means that only dioceses that failed to meet the guidelines set forth by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for reporting and handling allegations of sexual abuse will get field visits. The rest of the dioceses will simply audit themselves.
About 90 percent of the nation's 195 dioceses - including Hartford, Bridgeport and Norwich - have complied with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that the bishops conference established in 2002 to address the sexual abuse crisis.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the shift from the original auditing process to self-surveys will make what was a bad situation worse.
"Right now we have admitted abusive clergy walking the streets, moving to new states and foreign countries where people don't know about them," Clohessy said.
He said the case of former Springfield Bishop Thomas Dupre highlights the system's deficiencies. Dupre resigned in 2004 and entered treatment in Maryland in February 2004 after two men accused him of molesting them when they were teenage altar boys. The Springfield audit, which says the diocese is in compliance with the bishops' charter, does not mention Dupre's departure or the charges against him.
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, March 3, 2005
ALBANY -- The state's Catholic bishops will gather at the Capitol next week to lobby for the kind of social reforms that are at the foundation of their faith.
Fair funding in education, ethical stem cell research, a ban on embryo experimentation and abolition of the death penalty will be among the hot-button issues.
But critics say what's missing from the aggressive 7-point 2005 agenda brought forth by the clergy's public policy arm -- the New York State Catholic Conference -- is anything for clergy sex abuse victims.
They note there are no renewed requests on the conference's agenda for a mandatory reporting bill. Nor for relaxing the statute of limitations for those who were victimized as children by priests.
MINNESOTA
KSTP
Updated: 03/03/2005 08:14:22 AM
A 5 Eyewitness News investigation reveals secrets at the highest level of the Catholic Church. We obtained a 1962 Vatican document that directs church leaders how to handle sex abuse cases. It indicates the secrecy surrounding these cases started at the top. We found the secrecy often stays too long with the victim.
Rodney Jenniges is forty seven years old. He told us, "You don't heal a hundred percent is the whole problem." He says he kept his abuse secret for twenty years. Now he's trying to rebuild his life by tearing down the past that haunts him. "I think back now and I just cringe." Jenniges says unspeakable things happened inside the rectory at St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis.
He says he was only 12 when Brother Edmund Frost gave him alcohol before molesting him and maintains many people knew what was going on at the rectory. He told us, "I would just like an apology."
Brother Frost is now dead, but Jenniges says he would still like an apology from the church. He didn't get one when he filed a lawsuit in 1999. Instead the church fought him and the courts determined the statute of limitations had run out.
But it may not be too late for John Doe 56 who filed his lawsuit Wednesday. He was an altar boy at St. Albert's in the early 1970's and went to the parish school where Brother Frost taught sex education. John Doe 56 wants to remain anonymous. He says he hasn't even told his parents about the abuse. He says it started when Frost showed him a deck of pornographic playing cards and described each sex act on the cards. Afterward he performed oral sex on him. In all he says Brother Frost sodomized him 10 times. The now grown man, told us how that abuse has affected his life. He said, "It's a lonely, lonely feeling and very depressing." He also told us why he's filing the lawsuit. "I want them held accountable."
ROME
National
By John L. Allen Jr.
NCR Rome Correspondent
Alongside predictable exchanges on Iraq, the Middle East and religious liberty, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in her Feb. 8 visit to the Vatican also received an unexpected request -- to intervene in a U.S. lawsuit naming the Holy See as the defendant in a sex abuse case.
Church sources told NCR that Rice was asked by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State, whether the United States government could stop a class-action lawsuit currently before a United States District Court in Louisville, Ky., that seeks to hold the Vatican financially responsible for the sexual abuse of minors.
Sources told NCR that Rice explained that under American law, foreign states are required to assert claims of sovereign immunity themselves before U.S. courts.
Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls, asked by NCR for comment, responded March 2: "It's obvious and reasonable that the Holy See would present its positions as a sovereign entity to the American State Department, and recall the immunity for its acts that international law anticipates."
It's not the first time, according to observers, that the Vatican has asked the State Department for help on a legal matter.
Most experts say that lawsuits against the Vatican in American courts, such as the Kentucky case that prompted Sodano's request, are a long shot. At least two dozen previous attempts have gone nowhere, not only because the Vatican is a sovereign state, but also because American courts are generally reluctant to deal with religious matters on First Amendment grounds.
GREECE
Macedonian Press Agency
The Church of Greece Holy Synod meets again today under Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece in a heavy atmosphere and in the shadow of unending revelations.
Metropolite Dionisios of Chios will give explanations on the accusations that he has huge bank accounts in a US bank, while Metropolite Chrisostomos of Zakynthos will give explanations concerning the villa in the island of Patmos.
Also, Metropolite Nikiforos of Didimoticho will give explanations concerning sexual harassment accusations and Metropolite Chrisostomos of Peristerion will also appear before the Holy Synod accused of economic improprieties.
NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press
By A. SCOTT FERGUSON
STAFF WRITER
A rabbi who once was principal of a local religious school is in prison, resentenced to serve the same seven-year term ordered in 2002 when he was convicted of child endangerment.
A Superior Court judge resentenced Rabbi Baruch Lanner to the term after the Appellate Division of Superior Court dismissed one of the two child-endangerment charges against Lanner.
Lanner, the former principal of Hillel High School in Ocean Township, surrendered to authorities on Feb. 23. Superior Court Judge Paul F. Chaiet resentenced him that day, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter Boser said this week.
Lanner is now in South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, Cumberland County. He will be eligible for parole on Dec. 9, 2006, according to the state Department of Corrections. Lanner will have to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law.
Officials at Hillel, where Lanner worked from 1982 to 1997, did not return calls asking for comment.
NEWARK (NJ)
Asbury Park Press
Published in the Asbury Park Press 03/3/05
NEWARK: Two female employees have sued the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, alleging it failed to address repeated sexual harassment by a priest after several complaints.
The suit filed Wednesday in federal court claims the Rev. Dana Rose regularly made "sexually explicit, insulting and derogatory" comments to the women.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 3, 2005
A former Roman Catholic priest has been accused of molesting a minor 25 years ago when he was an assistant pastor at Holy Name Cathedral.
A lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court this week accuses James V. Flosi of sexual assault, battery and negligence stemming from an encounter with a Quigley Theological Seminary student in 1980.
In the suit, Michael Callo, 39, alleges that Flosi invited him to lunch, then took him to the rectory and molested him. The suit also says that after the assault Callo was subjected to "severe and egregious threats" aimed at keeping him silent, causing emotional and psychological damage.
At the time of the alleged assault, Flosi worked at Holy Name and as director of the archdiocesan office of separated and divorced catholics. After resigning from the priesthood in 1992, Flosi founded AIDSCARE, a non-profit organization that helps people with HIV and AIDS live independently.
From 1971 to 1976, Flosi served as assistant pastor at St. Hubert in Hoffman Estates, then served at Holy Name. From 1985 to 1988, he was an associate pastor at St. Luke in River Forest. From 1989 to 1990, he was an associate pastor at St. Gertrude in Franklin Park. And from 1990 to 1992, he was an associate pastor at St. Giles in Oak Park.
SCOTLAND
News & Star
Published on 03/03/2005
A parish priest who became obsessed with child porn websites and downloaded more than 4,000 pictures of young girls has escaped a prison sentence.
But Father George Campbell, who stood down from his duties at St Columba’s in Annan, when his home was raided by police, was yesterday placed on probation for three years, ordered to carry out 250 hours community service, and placed on the sex offenders register for three years.
Sheriff Kenneth Ross at Dumfries heard that Campbell had indicated to the police that he did not access the websites for sexual gratification but through a morbid curiosity that developed into an obsession.
Deputy procurator fiscal Jennifer McGill said the pictures were of girls under 16 in naked or erotic poses, but none showing any sex with adults.
Some of the sites visited carried titles such as “Hot Girls Photos” and “Young Strawberry”.
CAPE COD (MA)
Cape Cod Times
By AMANDA LEHMERT
STAFF WRITER
The Fall River Diocese is seeking $1.2 million from a former Falmouth priest accused of embezzling funds from two Cape Cod churches, according to court documents filed yesterday.
The Rev. Bernard Kelly, first investigated by police in 2003 for his relationship with convicted murderer Paul Nolin, is being sued in civil court by the diocese and Bishop George Coleman for allegedly misusing parish money from Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet and St. Joseph's in Woods Hole while he was pastor.
Yesterday, the court set a trial date in August, although both parties are trying to settle the case in the next 30 to 60 days, according to court papers.
Kelly's troubles were compounded yesterday when Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said his office's criminal investigation into Kelly's alleged larceny is nearly complete and is likely to be sent to a Barnstable grand jury soon.
Kelly, ordained in 1961, spent much of his career at Cape and islands churches. He worked at parishes in Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard, then became pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes from 1988 to 1997 before moving to the Woods Hole parish.
In fall 2003, police pressured Kelly for information about the death of Jonathan Wessner of Falmouth. Nolin, who had connections to Kelly, was eventually convicted of murdering Wessner.
Kelly resigned as St. Joseph's pastor in 2003 several weeks after Coleman placed him on leave.
Kelly was introduced to Nolin, a convicted sex offender, through fellow priest and Mashpee resident the Rev. Donald Turlick. Investigators allege that Nolin and Kelly had a sexual relationship; Kelly has denied it.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
New York Daily News
BY LAURA WILLIAMS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A defrocked priest convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy should not be considered a dangerous sexual predator, according to testimony in a hearing yesterday.
The risk-assessment hearing was held in Suffolk Criminal Court in Riverhead to determine whether Michael Hands, 38, should be listed as a Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender.
Hands is listed as a Level 2 offender in Nassau, but Suffolk prosecutors want him classified Level 3 - at the highest risk for reoffending - in their county.
Hands served 15 months in jail after pleading guilty to sodomy and other charges in Nassau and Suffolk. He befriended the 14-year-old's family while serving as parish priest in Northport and later in East Meadow. Hands was employed by the Diocese of Rockville Centre at the time.
But Hands did not just abuse the 14-year-old, said prosecutor Donald Mates, who painted a portrait of a repeat, high-risk offender.
"He was trolling for more underage victims, visiting offshore Web sites, searching out sexual partners," Mates said.
CLEVELAND (OH)
Plain Dealer
Thursday, March 03, 2005
David Briggs
Plain Dealer Religion Reporter
People in the pews were kept in the dark for half a century.
Now it is up to average Catholics to hold their church accountable to protect children from sexual abuse, the former head of the national lay review board monitoring the church's response to the scandal said Wednesday.
"Raise some hell. . . . Be vigilant. Be outspoken. And demand transparency," Illinois Appellate Justice Anne Burke said in an impassioned speech at the St. Joseph Center in Cleveland. "No more passive Catholics. That is my mantra now."
Burke served on the lay review board appointed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from June 2002 until her term ended last November. She was interim chairwoman from July 2003 until she left the board. Her talk Wednesday was sponsored by FutureChurch, a national independent lay Catholic group based in Cleveland.
Burke said if she were to write a book about her experiences, it would be titled "Asleep at the Switch," or "Who's Running this Joint?"
Yet even after what she called the "cataclysmic failure" of bishops to protect children or care for abuse victims, there still are many church leaders who want to return to the way things were, she said.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Thursday, March 3, 2005
It has been nearly 11 years since San Francisco police told Roman Catholic Church leaders that Monsignor Patrick O'Shea, one of the city's most politically connected Catholic priests, faced multiple allegations of child sexual abuse.
That police notification -- on March 10, 1994 -- set off a pedophilia scandal that could soon cost the Catholic Church in the Bay Area more than $100 million.
O'Shea, now 72, has been jailed, released, defrocked, convicted of embezzling church funds, jailed again, released again and repeatedly sued over the past decade. Dozens more Northern California priests have been accused of child sexual abuse and removed from public ministry.
The ultimate cost of the abuse scandal hinges on settlement negotiations being held this week at the Concord Convention Center. Pushing the talks are trial dates Monday for lawsuits against the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which includes Marin and San Mateo counties, and the Diocese of Oakland, made up of Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
THIS is a tough time to be a Catholic in Toledo. Sexual abuse by priests has rocked the church to its foundation, nationally and locally. Another priest is charged with murdering a nun in a bizarre ritualistic crime 25 years ago at a local hospital. Dwindling enrollment and membership has forced the bishop to close several schools and churches.
So it would seem foolish to aggravate the substantial public relations damage that has already been done to the Catholic Diocese of Toledo by engaging in conduct that suggests the church has been less than forthcoming in the police investigation of the slaying in 1980 of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, or in the broader inquiry into criminal activity in the diocese.
But Toledo police believe they have been stymied in their attempts to examine all records pertaining to Father Gerald Robinson, who is accused of the murder.
Authorities believe that information and files have been withheld perhaps out of a sense of obligation to Canon 489 of the Catholic Church, which requires that a secret archive be maintained for the storage of records related to allegations of crimes committed by clerics.
ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer
A settlement in the $1 million range has been reached in a child sexual abuse case against Father Jim Poole--who founded radio station KNOM in Nome--as well as the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese and the Society of Jesus Oregon Province said Ken Roosa, the attorney for Elsie Boudreau, formerly identified as Jane Doe 1.
Monday, lawyers on both sides of the case signed off on a binding agreement for a settlement that is still being worked out, Roosa said.
"We're working on it. I don't know anything more than that," Roosa said. "All we've got to be is be patient."
Boudreau claims Poole sexually abused her repeatedly from the time she was 10 until she was 16 years old.
A year ago this month, Boudreau sued Poole, a Jesuit who worked 40 years in Alaska.
Boudreau accused Poole of kissing and fondling her dozens of times, starting in 1978, during summer visits to Nome, and continuing until she was 16. The abuse included heavy petting and having her lie on top of him, the lawsuit stated.
GAITHERSBURG (MD)
Washington Post
By Eric Rich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 3, 2005; Page B01
A jury awarded $1.35 million yesterday to a woman who said she was driven from her job as music director at a Lutheran church in Gaithersburg and pushed nearly to the brink of suicide by a pastor whose alleged sexual advances she had rebuffed.
Mary Linklater alleged that she was ostracized from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church because of a campaign of retaliatory harassment by its pastor at the time, the Rev. Rufus S. Lusk III, and his allies. Linklater, 46, contended in a lawsuit that after she complained about Lusk's conduct, he delivered a series of sermons intended to discredit her by focusing on such topics as the sinful nature of bearing false witness.
The jury in Montgomery County Circuit Court awarded $1 million in punitive damages and $300,000 in compensatory damages against Lusk, finding that Linklater was the victim of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The jury, which deliberated for two days, also awarded $50,000 in compensatory damages against the church.
Attorneys on both sides said they were surprised by the size of the award. Linklater, a Germantown resident who now gives private music lessons, said she, too, was stunned by the outcome.
BARNSTABLE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BARNSTABLE, Mass.— The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River is seeking $1.2 million in a lawsuit filed against a former priest accused of embezzling funds from two Cape Cod churches.
The Rev. Bernard Kelly is being sued by the diocese and Bishop George Coleman for allegedly misusing parish money from Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet and St. Joseph's in Falmouth while he was pastor.
Meanwhile, the criminal investigation into Kelly is almost complete and is likely to be sent a grand jury soon, said Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe.
Kelly, first investigated by police in 2003 for his relationship with convicted murderer Paul Nolin, has spent much of his career at Cape and island churches. He worked in Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard before becoming pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes from 1988 to 1997, when he moved to St. Joseph's.
The alleged embezzlement first came to light in 2003 when authorities were investigating the murder of Jonathan Wessner of Falmouth. Kelly had a relationship with Paul Nolin, who was eventually convicted of killing Wessner. Kelly hired Nolin to work at the Falmouth church.
Investigators alleged that Nolin and Kelly had a sexual relationship, which Kelly has denied.
AUSTRALIA
Catholic News
Bishop Michael Malone has announced that the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle will establish a diocesan-wide child protection unit that will address the problem that there are many agencies, groups and individuals with different needs and varying resources.
“The area of child protection is extremely complex,” Bishop Malone told the Aurora diocesan newspaper, “and the effects of child protection issues are far-reaching.
“I am very conscious that there is a need to develop and preserve high levels of trust in all of our dealings with children. It’s one of the fundamentals of the church’s mission; it affects all areas.”
Bishop Malone acknowledged that breaches of trust on the part of individuals have a devastating effect on victims, families and communities and have set back the mission of the church immeasurably.
BOSTON (MA)
Transcript
By Richard Griffin/ Growing older
Thursday, March 3, 2005
I feel sorry for Paul Shanley. This does not prevent me from feeling sorrow and deep outrage on behalf of his victims.
I also admire the courage of Shanley's accuser whose testimony led to his tormentor's conviction. He persevered on the stand despite the emotional turmoil he clearly had to endure. Tempted more than once to abandon his case, the unnamed firefighter managed to fight on.
Shanley has been sentenced to a prison term that will last at least until 2013. For him, this will make for an unhappy old age, to say the least. Not without reason, his victims feel this sentence altogether too lenient for what he did to them.
I first met Paul Shanley in 1962 at the parish in Stoneham, where he was one of the priests on the ministerial staff. He impressed me, not only with his personal charm, but also with his dedication to ministry. There was nothing to show that, as was later alleged, he may have been already engaged in sexual abuse of young people.
MARYLAND
Gazette
by Jill Murphy
Staff Writer
Mar. 3, 2005
When Francis A. Benham takes his seat in court for sentencing on Friday, more than 20 years will have passed since his victims last faced the priest they say sexually abused them as children.
Their last encounter with Benham occurred in the 1970s at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Forestville, but their memory continues to be haunted.
As a 13-year-old girl, one of Benham's victims played folk guitar in the church band. Her mother taught religion classes and her father served as an usher on Sundays. Her brothers were altar servers.
But in 1979, she revealed almost two years of oral sex and sodomy with Benham to her parents, according to charging documents.
"He betrayed all of us," the victim's mother said in an interview. "She idolized him. He manipulated her mind while everyone was telling her what a great person he was."
INDIA
ExpressIndia.com
Express News Service
Rajkot, March 2: FOLLOWING widespread protest by devotees, the Radharaman trust has issued a showcause notice to Junagadh temple sadhu P P Swami allegedly for possessing properties in Jetpur town of Rajkot district. The notice is yet to be received by P P Swami, who has been absconding since February 23.
P P Swami and chairman of Junagadh Swaminarayan temple Devnandan Swami have also been accused of molesting a girl about three years ago. But the temple board has decided against touching this issue. The family members of a Rajkot-based girl along with other devotees of the Swaminarayan temple on Bhupendra Road had alleged that Devnandan Swami and his junior had molested the girl. They also alleged that these two sadhus own properties worth several lakhs in Rajkot district. The issue was raised once again at a meeting held in Jetpur on Sunday. Devotees of all five sub-sects attended the meeting and demanded action against both sadhus.
‘‘The temple board has issued a notice, seeking clarification about ownership of property in Jetpur. But P P Swami, who has been absconding since February 23, has not received the notice,’’ said Purshottam Thumar, a trustee with Radharaman Temple Board, adding, ‘‘The Board is likely to disqualify P P Swami soon.’’
INDIA
The Times of India
NEW DELHI: Protesting the release of Hindi film Sins , which depicts a Catholic priest in a sexual relationship, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) on Wednesday appealed for taking it off the screen.
"We, the Catholic Bishops of this country, feel that the film pays scant regard to the sensitivity of Catholic community in India that holds its priests in high esteem," the CBCI said.
It noted that such portrayal of religious persons in films serves no purpose other than giving fodder to those who are working to tarnish the social and religious institutions.
NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger
3/2/2005, 3:42 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two female employees have sued the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, alleging it failed to address repeated sexual harassment by a priest.
The suit filed Wednesday in federal court by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims the Rev. Dana Rose regularly made "sexually explicit, insulting and derogatory" comments to the women.
The Rev. Canon Paul S. Hunt said the diocese would fight the lawsuit, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages for what it called the diocese's "malicious and reckless behavior."
"The Diocese of Newark is committed to a safe and discrimination-free workplace," Hunt said. "Our investigation thus far has revealed there is no legal merit to the claim. It is therefore our intent to vigorously defend against the lawsuit."
Michelle Wilson and Maxine Gooden allege in the lawsuit that during Rose's frequent visits to the diocese's office, where both women worked as administrative assistants beginning in 2002, he made remarks such as, "You know I'm your baby's daddy."
GREECE
Athens News Agency
Thessaliotidos Metropolitan Theoklitos offered his resignation to the Holy Synod in writing on Tuesday, stressing that he was resigning from the Thessaliotidos diocese but not from the prelacy.
The metropolitan's decision, known several days beforehand, was made after his name was embarrassingly linked with that of jailed former archmandrite Iacovos Yiossakis, currently in Korydallos Prison facing charges of antiquities smuggling, and an emerging scandal involving both courts and clergy, in which judges were apparently bribed in order to hand out lighter sentences to known drug dealers.
Theoklitos, a former spokesman for the Permanent Holy Synod and a close associate of Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Christodoulos, insists that his intentions in recommending that Yiossakis be promoted were innocent and that he is resigning to avoid all hint that the archbishop was in any way linked with "covert" centres.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO
STAFF WRITER
March 2, 2005, 7:52 PM EST
Maintaining his sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy was a one-time offense that won't be repeated, defrocked Catholic priest Michael Hands defended himself Wednesday against allegations that he may have preyed on as many as six underage victims and could do so again.
Hands, 38, who was released last April after serving 15 months in prison for abusing the teen in 2001, appeared in a Riverhead court hearing to determine his risk level as a registered sex offender.
Saying Hands continues to dwell "in a dark corner of this world called child sexual abuse," prosecutor Donald Mates asked Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow to depart from the standard formula for assessing a sex offender's risk level and assign him to the highest category, level 3.
That would mean Hands would remain on a state registry for 10 years, and would allow law enforcement to notify Hands' neighbors and publish his address. Hands, who has a separate conviction in Nassau County for abusing the same boy, was assigned a lesser risk level of 2 there, and his defense attorney, Peter Rubin, maintains he should be assigned the same in Suffolk.
INDIA
Deepikaglobal.com
New Delhi, Mar 2 (UNI) The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) has protested the controversial film ''Sins'', released last friday as it ''pays scant regard to the sensitivity of the Catholic community in India''.
CBCI Secretary Genneral Rev Percival Fernandes said,'' it is a matter of deep concern than cinema is indulging in sensationalising deviant behaviour of an individual and in the process undermining the entire priestly fraternity's long established credibility.
IOWA
WQAD
WEST UNION, Iowa A man has filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dubuque claiming he was abused by a priest more than 50 years ago.
According to the lawsuit filed in Fayette County, the man claims he was abused by retired priest William A. Goltz when he was assigned to Sacred Heart Church in Oelwein in 1954.
The man, who filed the lawsuit under the name "John Doe" claims he was 13 years old when he was beaten and sexually abused by Goltz.
ANCHORAGE (AK
Anchorage Daily News
The Associated Press
Published: March 2nd, 2005
Last Modified: March 2nd, 2005 at 02:37 PM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Roman Catholic Church and a woman who accused a Nome priest of molesting her in the 1970s have agreed to settle a civil lawsuit she filed against the church, her attorney said.
Attorney Ken Roosa said Wednesday that the two sides have reached a binding agreement. The paperwork is being finished on the settlement expected to be in the $1 million range, he said.
Elsie Boudreau, identified in court documents as Jane Doe 1, sued the Rev. James Poole, the Diocese of Fairbanks, the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, and the Alaska Jesuits in March last year.
Boudreau went public because she felt it empowered her and would help others to come forward as well, Roosa said.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News
A committee has been set up to clarify issues surrounding the Stewardship Fund which pays out compensation to victims of clerical sex abuse.
A 3% levy on church collections was abolished last week, after parishioners complained they were not told the money was going towards the fund.
At a meeting of priests in the Derry diocese, it was decided to explore practical ways of consulting parishes.
It is thought priests discussed how to raise £1m for the fund over five years.
LOGAN COUNTY (AR)
TheHometownChannel.com
POSTED: 5:41 pm CST March 2, 2005
UPDATED: 6:13 pm CST March 2, 2005
LOGAN COUNTY, Ark. -- On top of the more than 1,000 new allegations of abuse cases reported in the Catholic Church nationwide, a new case has been filed in the Hometown area.
As 40/29's Beth Burnett reported Wednesday, the case involves a priest and a former student at Subiaco Academy -- a Catholic school in Logan County. The alleged abuse took place in 1976, and officialssaid the alleged victim in the case waited until he was an adult to file his complaint.
According to the federal lawsuit filed in Fort Smith, Joffre J. Miller claims that the Rev. Nicholas Fuhrmann, who worked as a priest at Subiaco Academy, sexually abused him. Miller now lives in Texas.
A complaint filed by Miller's attorneys says that "in the course and scope as teacher and boxing coach, Furhmann exploited his authority and position over Joffre and thereby gained access to Joffre's body using the pretext of massaging him due to the strains of boxing." The complaint goes on to allege that "massages led to Fuhrmann sexually molesting Joffre from 1976 until 1979."
Fuhrmann and the school are both listed as defendants in the case. Miller is asking for more than $75,000 in damages.
ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News
By NICOLE TSONG
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 2nd, 2005
Last Modified: March 2nd, 2005 at 03:18 AM
The Catholic church and a woman who says a Nome priest molested her in the 1970s have agreed to the broad terms of a settlement in a civil suit she brought against the church, her attorney said, with a final deal expected to be in the $1 million range.
Attorney Ken Roosa said the details are still being hashed out.
Elsie Boudreau, identified in court documents as Jane Doe 1, sued the Rev. James Poole, the Diocese of Fairbanks, the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province and the Alaska Jesuits in March last year. Boudreau accused Poole, a Jesuit, of kissing and fondling her dozens of times, starting in 1978 during summer visits to Nome and lasting until she was 16. The abuse included heavy petting and having her lie on top of him, the lawsuit says.
She said in a recent interview that she decided to sue after discussions with Fairbanks Bishop Donald Kettler about counseling bothered her. The bishop put parameters on paying for counseling, she said.
CONWAY (NH)
TheChamplainChannel.com
POSTED: 10:53 am EST March 2, 2005
CONWAY, N.H. -- The directors of a church-run day-care center are trying to determine how a worker accused of molesting three young girls there had enough time alone with them to commit the alleged crimes.
Jeffrey Edmunds, 40, of Bridgton, Maine, worked at the Joyful Hearts Children Center between April 2003 and April 2004. He faces six felony charges, three for fondling young girls and three for having child pornography.
"The staff works together pretty much throughout the day. It's pretty rare that anyone would be alone," said Sandford Kravette, pastor of Christian Fellowship of New England.
"We're still a little uncertain when Jeff would have had opportunity to be alone with the children to do what's alleged," Kravette said.
Edmunds came to the attention of New Hampshire authorities after Bridgton police arrested him in January on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and invasion of privacy.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
The Albuquerque Tribune
By Joline Gutierrez Krueger
March 2, 2005
New allegations of sexual misconduct by a longtime Albuquerque priest are renewing efforts by a national organization to have Archbishop Michael Sheehan remove the priest from duty.
Officials with the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, planned today to hand-deliver a letter to Sheehan at the chancery office in Albuquerque asking him to suspend the priest and to investigate the new allegations.
"Please remember what you and your brother bishops have repeatedly promised," the letter states. "To err on the side of children's safety, to remove a credibly accused cleric first from his current assignment until a more thorough investigation can be completed."
The priest has been accused in the past of other incidents of sexual molestation, many that were detailed in six letters sent to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 1995.
The letters are from men who as boys attended a Roman Catholic middle school in Albuquerque in the late 1970s and early 1980s. ...
Because no criminal charges have been filed, The Tribune is not naming the priest or the parish with which he is affiliated.
WATERLOO (IA)
Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Assistant City Editor
WATERLOO --- A defrocked former Evansdale priest who died in Mexico last month may have been murdered, U.S. State Department officials have told U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley's office.
Mexican authorities are investigating the death of former priest Robert Reiss "as a possible murder/robbery," said a spokesman for Grassley, whose office contacted the State Department in response to a request from the Courier.
"Our embassy is continuing to monitor the the case and has requested information from Mexican authorities as the investigation proceeds forward," Grassley spokesman Dustin Vande Hoef said. No additional details were available.
Reiss, 75, died Feb. 3 in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico. Chilpancingo is a city of 380,000 between Mexico City and Acapulco and is the capital of the Mexican state of Guerrero.
ARKANSAS
Times Record
By Amy Sherrill
TIMES RECORD • ASHERRILL@SWTIMES.COM
A former student of Subiaco Academy is suing the school and one of its priests in federal court in connection with alleged sexual abuse in the late 1970s.
It is the first lawsuit filed in Arkansas accusing a priest of sexual abuse, according to the office of the Vicar General with the diocese in Little Rock.
Joffre J. Miller of Texas filed a lawsuit against Subiaco Academy and the Rev. Nicholas Fuhrmann on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
Miller alleges that Fuhrmann sexually molested him from 1976-79, while Fuhrmann was his teacher and boxing coach, court document states.
MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis says it won't release the names of sex offenders identified in an independent audit last year.
The audit found 18 new cases of sexual abuse of children. Dennis McGrath is communications director for the archdiocese. He said the cases involve offenders previously identified.
"You know a fair number of these folks are dead. And I don't know what good would be served to their family and survivors if they've already been exposed and humilated. Now that they're dead let the dead lay," he said.
GREECE
Athens News
GEORGE GILSON
LIKE Chinese water torture, embarrassing revelations, leaked drop by drop, continued to batter Greece's embattled Archbishop Christodoulos, immediately overshadowing a series of transparency measures introduced by the church to overcome its simmering crisis.
Patriarch Eirinaios of Jerusalem on February 23 confirmed allegations that Christodoulos sent convicted drug dealer and suspected intelligence agent Apostolos Vavylis as an envoy to help him be elected patriarch in 2001. Eirinaios had earlier denied that Christodoulos had sent Vavylis as an envoy.
Christodoulos, who has admitted that he wrote a recommendation for Vavylis before his drug conviction, repeated his denial that he sent Vavylis to Jerusalem. But the development cast further doubt on his ability to clean up the church while he is now faced with a wave of calls to resign.
A 1996 Greek intelligence document published by To Vima on February 22 indicated that Vavylis was an Israeli Mossad agent, and his access to the Greek public order and defence ministries could prove to be a major espionage case.
GREECE
Kathimerini
Top churchmen yesterday summoned the faithful to a nationwide, all-night prayer next week for the scandal-mired Church to overcome the ballooning crisis, as a bishop forced to resign for corruption implicated politicians in the alleged trial-fixing ring thought to have comprised clerics and judges.
Meanwhile, criminal charges for concealing assets were brought against three judges suspected of involvement in the ring, while a fourth member of the judiciary faced disciplinary action for allegedly refusing to repay a 2,000-euro loan to a New Democracy MP.
The Church of Greece’s ruling body, the Holy Synod, yesterday accepted the resignation announced on Friday by Theoklitos, Bishop of Thessaliotis, who is alleged to have maintained ties with the trial-fixing ring. Theoklitos is also accused of having been detained by police on suspicion of drug dealing in a dodgy bar, and of homosexuality — which the Church officially abhors.
The Synod also decided to summon two more bishops to provide explanations today regarding allegations of misconduct, and to dismiss an unmarried priest serving in the archbishopric after video tapes of a sexual content in which he allegedly appeared were made public. The priest was dismissed on the evidence of the tapes, although the Synod had previously refused to take similarly stringent action against Panteleimon, Bishop of Attica — who has been suspended for allegedly seeking to influence senior judges — after audio tapes surfaced in which he apparently had a lewd conversation with a male lover.
TOLEDO (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By John Seewer
The Associated Press
TOLEDO - An attorney who once represented a Roman Catholic priest accused of killing a nun in 1980 said claims that the priest failed a lie detector test were wrong.
The attorney, Henry Herschel, sought on Tuesday to dispute court documents released a day earlier that included allegations that the Rev. Gerald Robinson failed one of two polygraph tests days after the killing.
The priest took two tests, and the first one produced results that could not determine whether Robinson was telling the truth, Herschel said.
The examiner who gave the test noted that Robinson needed to be in a calmer state, Herschel said, adding that Robinson had just spent several hours being questioned by police.
Another examiner, who administered the second test a few months later, determined that Robinson was probably telling the truth.
According to a court document filed by investigators, Robinson failed the first test and passed the second one.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
blade staff writer
Under attack for stating that murder suspect Father Gerald Robinson "failed" the first of two polygraphs, investigators yesterday stood by the results of the tests administered 24 years ago that indicated the cleric was being untruthful.
In a news conference earlier in the day, Father Robinson's defense lawyers questioned the validity of a lie detector exam Father Robinson took on April 18, 1980 - 13 days after Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was stabbed and strangled in the Mercy Hospital chapel.
Reading from the report by the polygraph examiner James Wiegand, attorney Henry Herschel said the examiner wrote that he "was of the opinion that truthfulness could not be verified."
"The examiner," Mr. Herschel said, "did not use the word 'failed' in his report."
Mr. Herschel, who represented the priest in 1980, was among the lawyers who appeared yesterday for a news conference to challenge the findings released in court documents Monday.
The records supported police searches last year at Toledo diocese offices by investigators who had reopened the murder case.
RAPID CITY (SD)
Rapid City Journal
By Vicky Wicks, Journal Staff Writer
RAPID CITY -- Saying he didn't want another child to go through what Glenn Ford's victim went through, 7th Circuit Judge Merton Tice Jr. sentenced the former youth pastor to 15 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary.
At Tuesday's hearing, Tice suspended seven years of the sentence and gave Ford until Friday to report to Pennington County Jail for transport to prison.
The sentencing ends the story that started in June, when Ford, now 40, was charged for having sex with a 13-year-old girl while he was youth pastor at Victory Chapel on La Crosse Street.
The victim was in the courtroom Tuesday, but her mother spoke on her behalf, telling of the nightmares and fears the girl had after reporting the crimes that occurred over a three-month period. The child's mother said the girl was depressed and suicidal and sometimes slept in a closet because of her fears.
Other youths in the congregation no longer wanted to attend church because of the situation caused by Ford, the mother told Tice.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
March 02, 2005
THE trial of a former Anglican priest accused of a string of child sex offences dating back to the 1970s has been put back to April.
Prosecutor Michael Stoddard today told the Tasmanian Supreme Court in Hobart that an un-anticipated matter needed to be resolved in Louis Victor Daniels' case, which involved making contact with a person on the mainland.
Justice Pierre Slicer ordered 57-year-old Daniels to reappear on April 18, when he will be required to enter pleas to 23 charges.
Daniels, of the Canberra suburb of Charnwood, appeared in court via videolink from Canberra.
He is charged with 21 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual intercourse with a young person under the age of 17.
NEWTON (MA)
Newton Tab
By Diane Donnellan/ Guest Commentary
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
How did he fool us? An entire parish full of families thought he was wonderful. Fathers, mothers, grandparents and children welcomed him into our parish and into our lives, our homes and, yes, our hearts.
I was probably one of the first people to meet him in the rectory way back in '79. Being on the School Board for St. Jean's School and a member of the Parish Council, I was always in and out of the rectory meeting with the pastor or on some errand or another. It was on one of these visits to the rectory that I was introduced to him during his first few days at St. Jean's. He told me that he was sent to our parish to help out our elderly pastor, and I thought how wonderful that our cardinal had seen fit to send us a young priest to help out.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Duluth News Tribune
BY JIM SALTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS - A priest's admission that he received child pornography while living at a home for troubled priests near St. Louis has raised concern about oversight at that site and a similar one nearby.
David Malsch, 66, a convicted sex offender from Superior, was living at the Wounded Brothers RECON facility in Franklin County, Mo., in October 2003 when federal agents searched his room and found 28 photos of child porn.
Malsch pleaded guilty Monday and faces at least five years in prison when sentenced June 10.
Allegations of inappropriate behavior with a child against Malsch date to the early 1980s, when he was serving St. Patrick Church in Superior. In 2002, Superior Bishop Raphael Fliss apologized publicly for the diocese's failure to more thoroughly investigate Malsch.
RECON officials did not return telephone calls Tuesday seeking comment. Director Mark Matousek has described it as a halfway house mainly for those who have exhausted treatment options.
Both St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests questioned how a cleric with a history of sexual misconduct could be allowed to get child porn by mail. Just two weeks ago, archdiocese spokesman Jamie Allman said, Burke met with RECON officials to express concern over security and monitoring.
BOISE (ID)
KBCI 2
By Hailie Brook
BOISE -
As a Deacon with a local Catholic Church prepares to head to prison for possession of child pornography, some parishioners at St. Mary's Parish continue to question the way the church handled the situation.
Last fall, Deacon Robert "Rap" Howell was charged with possession of internet child pornography. In November the deacon pleaded guilty to the crime.
But some parishioners are upset because the church didn't tell them about the conviction until last Sunday. "I'm trying to win the church back, I'm trying to fight for the church that I believe should be there," said St. Mary's Parishioner Erin Brannon.
Last Sunday - in the middle of mass - Erin Brannon took a stand, speaking out against the way he says the church has handled the Howell situation. "I just said I have an announcement and I walked up there and I probably didn't speak very well and I doubt anyone even heard me because I was so emotional," he said.
His emotions were boiling because he said the priest had just announced Deacon Howell was going to jail for a crime he "unknowingly committed." A crime that Howell had confessed to months ago. "The fact is he was caught with the materials on his hard drive and that's the fact," said Brannon, "and the fact is they were obscene materials with children."
CANADA
Anglican Journal
SOLANGE DE SANTIS
STAFF WRITER
The fund set up by the Anglican Church of Canada to pay victims of abuse in native residential schools has collected $13.3 million as of Jan. 31, 2005, according to the national church’s finance office in Toronto.
Under an agreement with the federal government signed in March 2003, the church’s liability in lawsuits seeking damages for abuse suffered by students was capped at $25 million. All 30 dioceses and the national office, called General Synod, are paying into the fund at varying levels over a five-year timespan.
About $4.7 million has been paid to claimants who have been able to prove that they were victims of sexual or physical abuse at Anglican-run schools that were part of a nationwide system of boarding schools for native children. The Anglican church ran 26 of the 80 schools that were in the system.
Another church fund related to native people’s experiences in the residential schools – the aboriginal healing fund – recently topped the $2 million mark in disbursements, according to fund co-ordinator Esther Wesley.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News
Priests in the Derry diocese will meet again to discuss raising money for the Stewardship Fund, which pays clerical sex abuse victims compensation.
Last week a levy for the fund from church collections was abolished, after parishioners' complaints that they were not told where the money was going.
The meeting will be held at the Iona Retreat Centre just outside Derry.
A spokesman said no agreement will be made on the commitment to the fund without parishioners having their say.
Bishop of Derry Dr Seamus Hegarty apologised in a letter read out at Masses in the diocese on Sunday for not telling parishioners that a 3% levy on church collections was going towards the fund for victims of clerical sex abuse.
MANATEE (FL)
Bradenton Herald
RICHARD DYMOND
Herald Staff Writer
MANATEE - A 49-year-old Tampa man who claims a priest sexually abused him when he was an altar boy at a Sarasota church is suing the Catholic Diocese of Venice.
James Woods' civil suit, which also names dioceses in St. Petersburg and St. Augustine, claims that The Rev. Jose Mena, who is now retired and living in Jacksonville, sexually abused him in 1965 at Incarnation Catholic Church on Bee Ridge Road.
Filed in Hillsborough County, the suit states that Mena was involved in the youth ministry at Incarnation and sexually abused Woods on numerous occasions during the 1965-66 school year while Woods was in the fifth grade at Incarnation Catholic School and an altar boy at Incarnation Catholic Church.
The alleged abuse occurred on the premises of Incarnation, the suit states.
A call to Mena was not returned Tuesday.
SOUTH DAKOTA
KOTA
3/1/2005 4:29:05 PM
Sara Sciammacco
After an emotional day in court, a former youth pastor gets 15 years in prison for raping a 13-year-old girl.
In a crowded courtroom, 40-year-old Glenn Ford told the teenage victim “he was sorry and asked for forgiveness”. After testimony from Ford's wife and a sex offender therapist, Ford was handed the maximum sentence for statutory rape.
Last month, Ford pled guilty to having sex with the girl in the basement of a church. According to police, Ford also had inappropriate sexual contact with the girl several times at his home.
ALASKA
KTUU
Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - by Megan Baldino
Anchorage, Alaska - A settlement in the $1 million range has been reached in a child sexual abuse case against Father Jim Poole, a former priest from Nome.
Ken Roosa, the attorney for Elsie Boudreau, formerly identified as Jane Doe I, says lawyers on both sides of the case signed a binding agreement. Boudreau claims Poole sexually abused her repeatedly from the time she was 10 until she was 16 years old.
Poole was a Jesuit priest working for the Catholic diocese. He is best known for starting KNOM, the Catholic radio station in Nome.
BOISE (ID)
KTVB
Mike Vogel
Idaho's NewsChannel 7
BOISE -- A local Catholic deacon will be going to federal prison Wednesday on child pornography charges.
Robert Howell is going to prison for 18 months for possession of child pornography.
Robert Howell plead guilty to the possession of child pornography charges back in November after being investigated by the FBI.
He was sentenced in January to serve 18 months in federal prison in Lompoc, Calif.
The local Catholic Diocese started its own investigation as soon as it learned the FBI was investigating.
Howell is a deacon in the Catholic Church, though he isn't currently practicing.
IOWA
KWWL
A new child molestation lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Dubuque.
A co-chair for the support group called "SNAP," or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says the suit was filed against Father William Goltz in Fayette County for a sexual abuse incident that allegedly happened in 1954.
A co-founder for the northeast Iowa chapter of "SNAP" says she applauds the victim's courage, and hopes this lawsuit will encourage more survivors of priest molestation to come forward.
AUSTRIA
Die Presse
(Die Presse - Printed Edition) 01.03.2005
Vienna – St. Poelten Bishop Klaus Kueng has apologised to Austrian Catholics for the child porn scandal that took place in the diocese under his predecessor Kurt Krenn in a letter to all those who left the Church last year. In the letter, he wrote that everyone would be welcomed back if they change their minds. He said that the large number of people leaving the church was a “painful sign.” He described the “sad events” as a “great scandal.”
GREECE
Macedonian Press Agency
Metropolite Theoklitos of Thessaliotida tendered his resignation to the Church of Greece Holy Synod today assuming responsibility for proposing to the Church to use Iakovos Giosakis, while he is also scheduled to testify to the prosecutor and state everything he knows about the activities of Giosakis.
The Metropolite of Piraeus reacted strongly to the allegations made by Theoklitos against the ecclesiastical organization “Chrisopigi”.
Meanwhile, Metropolite Panteleimon of Attiki and Metropolite Dionisios of Chios will give explanations for the huge personnel assets they allegedly have.
Metropolite Germanos blames for the crisis the Archbishop and suggested his replacement by Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania.
TOLEDO (OH)
Beacon Journal
JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio - An attorney who once represented a Roman Catholic priest accused of killing a nun in 1980 said claims that the priest failed a lie detector test were wrong.
The attorney, Henry Herschel, sought on Tuesday to dispute court documents released a day earlier that included allegations that the Rev. Gerald Robinson failed one of two polygraph tests days after the killing.
The priest took two tests and the first one produced results that could not determine whether Robinson was telling the truth, Herschel said.
The examiner who gave the test noted that Robinson needed to be in a calmer state, Herschel said, adding that Robinson had just spent several hours being questioned by police.
Another examiner who administered the second test a few months later determined that Robinson was probably telling the truth, Herschel said.
According to a court document filed by investigators, Robinson failed the first test and passed the second one.
TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL
TOLEDO -- The attorneys for accused killer Father Gerald Robinson are speaking out. Defense attorneys want to talk about lie detector tests that the priest took 24 years ago in connection with the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. She was found stabbed to death in the chapel of Mercy Hospital back in 1980.
Details of the tests were included in search warrant affidavits released Monday. The affidavits were filed to support two police searches conducted in September at the offices of the Diocese of Toledo in which detectives wanted to see alleged "secret archives." Late Monday, the diocese denied the existance of any "secret archives," and said all information about Father Robinson has been turned over to the prosecutor's office and the police.
Alan Konop is one of the attorneys representing Father Gerald Robinson. He is expected to say that the search warrants have false information in them and that Robinson did not fail that lie detector test. Also expected at Tuesday's news conference is an attorney who represented Father Robinson back in 1980.
WISCONSIN
WSAW
Jeff Thelen
A retired priest convicted of sexual misconduct in Wisconsin is headed back to prison for at least five more years.
Sixty-six-year-old David Malsch was convicted of child enticement in 1993 and served six years.
In 2001, Malsch was sent a home for troubled priests in Missouri. In 2003, federal authorities searched Malsch's room there and found 28 photos of child porn.
He pleaded guilty to that charge Monday.
IRELAND
online.ie
A religious order tonight admitted that it failed to notify the Gardaí about abuse allegations against a priest who carried out a "reign of terror" in Newbridge College.
The Provincialate Dominican Order said it had received the complaint about the college's former headmaster, Fr Vincent Mercer, in 1995.
"It was notified to our solicitors but the victim at the time asked that it not be notified to the Gardaí," said spokesman Fr Pat Lucey.
The Gardaí did not learn of the allegations against the 58-year-old priest until 2003, when further victims came forward.
Fr Mercer was given a three-year suspended sentence today at Naas Circuit Criminal Court for sexually abusing six schoolboys in Newbridge College, as well as two more boys at a holiday camp in Cork, between 1970 and 1977.
ANN ARBOR (MI)
Ann Arbor News
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
BY CATHERINE O'DONNELL
News Staff Reporter
An Ypsilanti minister pleaded guilty Monday to charges he solicited a 14-year-old girl over the Internet.
The Rev. James C. Southward, former pastor of Graceway Baptist Church, appeared in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, admitting to Chief Judge Archie C. Brown that he had sent sexually explicit e-mails to the girl.
"It didn't start out that way," Southward told the judge. "But I did it and am very sorry."
Southward, 63, pleaded guilty to one count of sexually abusive activity with a child and one count of using the Internet to commit the crime. Maximum penalties are 20 years in prison for each count. Fines could total $100,000 for the initial count and $20,000 for the second one.
In a sentencing agreement made Friday, Southward will serve 24-40 months in prison in exchange for the plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 27 but is free on bond until then.
Southward wept as he told the court he has known the girl all her life but "never intended to hurt her."
ANN ARBOR (MI)
ClickOnDetroit.com
POSTED: 3:28 pm EST March 1, 2005
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A former Baptist minister in Washtenaw County has pleaded guilty to sex charges.
James Southward, 63, was pastor of Faithway Baptist Church in Ypsilanti Township. He is accused of soliciting a 14-year-old girl over the Internet.
Michigan State Police said Southward (pictured, left) made phone calls to an Arizona teenager who previously belonged to his congregation.
Investigators posed online as the 14-year-old in a chat with Southward. Police said the conversation turned sexual and the minister allegedly tried to set up a meeting with the girl.
Police said Southward never had sexual contact with the girl.
WASHINGTON (DC)
National
By JOE FEUERHERD
Washington
In the two-and-a-half years since the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called upon its members to implement sex-abuse prevention programs in their local churches, nearly every diocese has done so, but questions about the effectiveness of those efforts remain unanswered.
The Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, released Feb. 18 by the bishops’ Office of Child and Youth Protection, noted that 96 percent of the nation’s 195 dioceses and Eastern Rite eparchies were compliant with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by the bishops at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal in June 2002.
Between July 26 and mid-December of 2004, the dioceses were visited by representatives of the Gavin Group, a Boston-based firm hired by the bishops’ conference to rate diocesan compliance with the charter. All but one diocese -- Lincoln, Neb. -- participated in the survey.
Three Eastern Rite eparchies and the dioceses of Burlington, Vt., Fresno, Calif., Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., and Youngstown, Ohio, were found out of compliance with the charter, largely because they either failed to conduct background checks on church employees and volunteers or had not instituted “safe environment programs.”
IRELAND
online.ie
A Dominican priest who sexually assaulted a schoolboy in a "reign of terror " at Newbridge College was today given a three-year suspended sentence.
Father Vincent Mercer, 58, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting six boys at the college, as well as two boys at a holiday camp in Cork, between 1970 and 1977.
At Naas Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Raymond Groake said Mercer had deliberately chosen to abuse his victims in dormitories where they would be too frightened to alert anyone else about what was taking place.
He added that it took no genius to recognise the harm caused to his victims.
WATERLOO (IA)
Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Assistant City Editor
WATERLOO --- Seven Catholic priests who allegedly sexually abused minors within the Archdiocese of Dubuque apparently have been referred to the Vatican for possible action, including defrocking, Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus told the Courier last week.
Hanus would not identify the priests. But the seven cases are equal to the number of living archdiocesan priests against whom credible accusations of sexual abuse have been made.
In a December 2003 report, Hanus said 18 of the 26 archdiocesan priests accused of sexual abuse since 1950 have died. One of the remaining eight, Robert Reiss, was defrocked in 1997. He died in Mexico Feb. 3, the archdiocese reported last week.
None of the seven can represent themselves in public as a priest, Hanus said.
The Vatican may defrock priests --- dismissing them from the priesthood --- or concur with penalties imposed to date.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Duluth News Tribune
JIM SALTER
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - A priest's admission that he received child pornography while living at a home for troubled priests near St. Louis has raised concern about oversight at that site and a similar one nearby.
David Malsch, 66, a convicted sex offender from Wisconsin, was living at the Wounded Brothers RECON facility in Franklin County in October 2003 when federal agents searched his room and found 28 photos of child porn.
Malsch pleaded guilty Monday and faces at least five years in prison when sentenced June 10.
Allegations of inappropriate behavior with a child against Malsch date to the early 1980s, when he was serving St. Patrick church in Superior, Wis. In 2002, Superior Bishop Raphael Fliss apologized publicly for the diocese's failure to more thoroughly investigate Malsch.
RECON officials did not return telephone calls Tuesday seeking comment. Director Mark Matousek has described it as a halfway house mainly for those who have exhausted treatment options.
UNITED STATES
Forward
By Steven I. Weiss
February 25, 2005
A rabbi at the forefront of efforts to curb abuse in the Orthodox community is launching an initiative to certify organizations that adopt policies to combat the problem.
The rabbi, Mark Dratch, told the Forward that he is planning to leave his post as religious leader of Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford, Conn., in "six months to a year" to launch JSafe: The Jewish Institute Supporting an Abuse Free Environment. The hope, he said, is that the "seal of approval" he will provide will become "something that parents would begin to look for."
Dratch, who serves as chairman of the Rabbinic Sexual Improprieties Task Force of the Rabbinical Council of America, a union of more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis, announced his plan Sunday at the biennial conference of the liberal Orthodox organization Edah.
The plan is being unveiled as the RCA is being criticized by some rabbis, outside experts and alleged victims for sharing the names of complainants with a rabbi accused of sexual harassment. The country's largest Orthodox organization, the Orthodox Union, has been working for several years to restore its reputation after a series of reports chronicling the failure of O.U. officials to act against a top youth group leader who was eventually convicted of sexual abuse.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Jewish Week
by Debra Rubin
Editor
A former maintenance worker at a District synagogue has been sentenced for sexual abuse, while a local family remains devastated by the incident.
Associate Judge John H. Bayly Jr. of the District of Columbia Superior Court last week sentenced Elvin Guerra to 40 months in prison with no possibility of parole after a plea bargain agreement reached in December.
His imprisonment will be followed by three years of supervised release, and he also must register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Guerra, 23, was sentenced on two counts: second-degree sexual abuse and enticing a child to commit a sexual act.
In his plea, he admitted to sexual intercourse and sexual contact after enticing the girl into a rest room at the Reform synagogue "for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts and sexual contact with her."
IRELAND
RTE News
01 March 2005 16:55
A former headmaster of the Dominican College in Newbridge, Fr Vincent Mercer, has been given a three-year suspended sentence for sexually abusing boys in his care.
Fr Mercer, who is 58, admitted indecently assaulting eight boys aged between ten and 13 years over a period of seven years.
The assaults took place in their beds in the dormitories, in his office, in the college infirmary while they were sick and at a holiday camp run by the Dominicans.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
In a review of the payments accounted for by the Worcester diocese since the onset of the recent crisis in the catholic church one can determine that the legal expenses has risen over three hundred percent.
In a January 10, 2003 interview with the Boston Globe then Worcester Bishop Daniel Reilly stated that since 1950, when the diocese was established, it has paid $764,833 to settle lawsuits involving sexual abuse of minors, and its insurance companies have paid $1,384,000. Additionally, Reilly said "We did not pay out any money for any settlement. We did pay legal counsel fees of $21,312 to respond to the suits filed against the diocese and the bishop. We also spent $28,150 to provide treatment services to those alleging abuse and to establish our Office for Healing and Prevention."
Bishop Reilly on February 16, 2004 released his report on clergy abuse with the dioceses. According to the diocese report, $2,280,833 has been paid in compensation to victims in settlements of abuses between 1950 and 2003. Of that, $1,469,000 came from insurance and $811,833 was paid directly by the diocese.
Doing the math this would have resulted in an additional $47,000 dollars paid out by the dioceses of Worcester as compensation for victims of clergy sexual abuse within approximately a 13 months time span. During fiscal year 2003 which runs for September 1, 2002 till August 31, 2003 legal services were listed as $118,422. For fiscal year 2004 legal services increased to $131,875. Prior to September 1, 2002 legal fees were $21,000 in fiscal year 2002 according to Bishop Reilly. The total amount of legal service in the past three years to the Worcester dioceses is $271,297 dollars.
ARIZONA
KVOA
The state Court of Appeals has reversed the child-molestation convictions of a former Catholic-school teacher.
In a memorandum issued late last week, the appellate panel returned Phillip Gregory Speers' molestation case to Yuma County Superior Court, where he was prosecuted.
In September, the Court of Appeals overturned his convictions for possessing child pornography in connection with the same case, which involved accusations that the 32-year-old Speers molested girls in a second-grade class he taught at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in Yuma in the 1999-2000 school year.
Thursday's memorandum said Speers should have been allowed to call an expert witness to talk about the implantation of false memories in children and he should have been allowed to have friends, family members and co-workers give testimony about his character.
TOLEDO (OH)
Ohio News Network
Secrets inside the Toledo Catholic Diocese were unveiled, as court documents were released in the murder case against Father Gerald Robinson.
According to those documents, the diocese kept "secret archives" about its priests - including Father Robinson. That's why detectives served two search warrants last September on Bishop Leonard Blair and other top officials at the diocese headquarters in downtown Toledo.
The documents released today show Father Robinson was the prime suspect in the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, even days after she was found strangled and stabbed in the chapel of the old Mercy Hospital.
INDIA
Rediff.com
March 01, 2005 19:27 IST
Two more priests attached to Swaminarayan temple have been arrested from Surendranagar district in Gujarat connection with the sex CD case.
The priests arrested belonged to the Kalupur sect of Swaminarayan temple at Ahmedabad but worked under its branch in Surendranagar, police said.
Swaminarayan temple priest held for immoral trafficking
The first arrests in the case came in February when a priest of a Swaminarayan temple, Bhaktiswarup, and three other people were arrested for making sleazy video CDs and distributing them.
The police arrested the Surendranagar priests after getting leads from Bhaktiswarup and others involved in the case, the police said.
GREECE
Kathimerini
Archbishop Christodoulos held a crisis meeting yesterday with a series of bishops and legal advisers to discuss the corruption scandal that has led to the dismissal of one top churchman and the forced resignation of another, while bringing the Church leader under pressure to step down.
Today, the Church’s ruling body, the Holy Synod, is expected to accept Friday’s resignation of Theoklitos, Bishop of Thessaliotis, who is being investigated following allegations by his predecessor that he was detained in the past on suspicion of drug dealing. He has also been accused of having a gay affair.
The resignation of Theoklitos, one of Christodoulos’s closest associates in the top Church echelons, followed the suspension of Panteleimon, Bishop of Attica, pending an investigation into claims he tried to influence senior judges. Panteleimon has also been accused of homosexuality, which the Church officially abhors.
Yesterday, Christodoulos, who has refused to resign, met with 10 bishops and three of his legal advisers to discuss the ongoing scandal, which started with allegations that a churchman, Archimandrite Iakovos Yiossakis, was involved in a trial-fixing ring. Sources said the archbishop conveyed the impression that he enjoyed government backing in his handling of the scandal.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Homicide detectives believed that officials at the Toledo Catholic Diocese intentionally misled them during their investigation into the slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl last year, according to court documents unsealed yesterday.
The records show that during unprecedented police searches of the downtown church headquarters, investigators said they were looking for evidence of "obstructing justice," in their search for "secret files" that might lead to information about murder suspect and longtime cleric Father Gerald Robinson.
Police said they obtained 148 documents when they searched the diocese on Sept. 15 armed with a judge's order - documents the diocese had failed to turn over to them on an earlier request.
The papers also reveal that Father Robinson had twice taken a lie-detector test during the 1980 probe, and "failed" it the first time, according to investigators.
Sister Pahl was found strangled and stabbed in the Mercy Hospital chapel.
"The results indicated that Father Robinson was involved in the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl," Sgt. Steve Forrester wrote in an affidavit requesting court approval to search the diocese's Spielbusch Avenue offices.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By Sarah Brett
01 March 2005
The chief of a sex abuse counselling group that employed a priest accused of a sexual assault was today tightlipped about the scandal engulfing the Derry diocese.
While priests across the North West were planning an open and transparent way of turning the Stewardship Fund debacle around, the Director of NEST, Fr Seamus O'Connell, refused to answer questions about employing Fr Andy McCloskey, who paid a £19,000 out of court settlement to a man who accused him of sexual assault.
The man was 18 at the time and Fr McCloskey has never admitted liability. He is now on an indefinite leave of absence from his Dungiven parish.
In a statement a week ago, the embattled Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty said he had no part in appointing Fr McCloskey to NEST but accepted the organisation's opinion that he was good counsellor material.
He said: "Fr McCloskey's involvement in NEST as a counsellor came about following an assessment made by the professional and independent people involved in that organisation.
CANADA
Cnews
By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN
A former Roman Catholic priest has sought political asylum in Canada after alleging he knew of sexual abuse against kids and the bilking of funds at his church in Peru. Alberto Luis Calderon Mendez, 26, fled to Toronto in June, 2003, claiming persecution on the grounds of his religion, opinion and membership in a particular social group. His refugee bid was nixed by an immigration board but successfully appealed last month to the Federal Court of Canada.
"He is an ex-priest of the Catholic Church, specifically the Order of St. Augustine," Justice Max Teitelbaum said.
Mendez claimed he witnessed his boss misappropriating funds and was told of children being abused by another priest at his church.
He testified he reported the allegations to the Vatican and his bosses and in February of 2001 was reassigned to a village in the jungle.
"His task was to distribute clothing," court heard. The job "made him a target for harassment by members of the Shining Path terrorist group."
ALASKA
KTUU
Monday, February 28, 2005 - by Megan Baldino
Anchorage, Alaska - It looks as though a settlement with the Catholic Church may be reached in a deal that could be the largest in Alaska. Monday, the attorney for a woman who says she was abused as a child by a popular Nome priest says he is close to an agreement.
There is word of a possible settlement in the $1 million range, and on Monday, for the first time, “Jane Doe” released her name. Elsie Boudreau says going public is part of her effort to heal.
In the lawsuit, Boudreau claims Father Jim Poole fondled and French-kissed her many times when she was 10 to 16 years old, with the abuse taking place mainly in Nome. It was Poole who started KNOM, the Catholic radio station there, and he was known as “the radio priest.”
Lawyers for Poole filed a protective order a while ago in the case to prevent his deposition from being released.
Boudreau's attorney, Ken Roosa, wants the written account released because he claims Poole’s deposition includes an admission that he abused a young woman.
BOISE (ID)
KBCI
By Hailie Brook
BOISE -
A deacon with a local Catholic Church is headed to prison. Last fall, Deacon Robert "Rap" Howell was charged with possession of internet child pornography.
In November, the Deacon pleaded guilty to the crime but many parishioners at St. Mary's Parish are angry because their priest just told about the conviction during last Sunday's sermon.
The former deacon will spend the next 18 months behind bars in federal prison. Meanwhile parishioners wonder why his guilty plea was withheld from them for so long.
The case against Deacon Howell began last May after his former employer discovered child porn on the Deacon's computer. "The age range here I believe involved children between the ages of nine and 13," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson.
Olson prosecuted the case against Howell. She said the F.B.I. proved eight of the explicit images on the former Deacon's computer illegally involved children. "There were a number of other images suspected but they weren't able to be definitely pinned down as items of child pornography," said Olson.
INDIA
Deepikaglobal.com
Ahmedabad, Mar 1 (UNI) Two more sadhus of the Swaminarayan sect have been arrested in Mooli Mandir in Surendranagar district in connection with the sex CD scandal involving a priest of Junagadh.
The sadhus - Prabhudas alias P P Swami and Prayam Vallabh Swami alias Kakaswami - were nabbed by the State Crime Branch late last night, Investigating Officer N K Amin told UNI here.
The scandal was allegedly a fallout of group rivalry in the sect.
The earlier arrests were made on February 15 by a Crime Branch team.
While the priest, Bhaktiswarupwas has been charged with trafficking of women, the other three - Mansuk Patel, Banubhai Patel and Takkarsinh Patel - were taken into custody under Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act for making videos of the sexual acts and distributing them in the form of CDs, D G Vanzara, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) had said at a press conference after their arrest.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Peter Shinkle
Of the Post-Dispatch
Monday, Feb. 28 2005
A Roman Catholic priest with a history of sexually abusing children pleaded
guilty Monday of receiving child pornography at a Franklin County home for
troubled priests.
The Rev. David J. Malsch, 66, admitted that in October 2003 he got child
pornography images at the RECON facility on Vondera Drive in Robertsville. He
also admitted forwarding child porn from the home to a "pen pal" in
Pennsylvania.
RECON, also known as Wounded Brothers, is where a Nevada priest, Mark Roberts,
was sentenced to serve a term for his 2003 child molestation conviction.
Another resident is Gerald Chumik, a Franciscan monk who has been a fugitive
since 1990 from Canada, where he faces charges of gross indecency with a minor.
A victims' support group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has
called for Roberts to leave, noting that he is now living just 20 minutes from
one of his victims.
David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, said Wounded Brothers is too lax for
someone with Malsch's record. "This is what happens when priests oversee other
abusive priests in a church-run secretive environment," Clohessy complained.
"This is why men like Malsch belong behind bars and not at a church-run
retreat-style facility."
ALASKA
Orange County Register
By CHRIS KNAP and RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register
In the bleak, isolated villages along the Bering Sea, Jim Poole, the founder of missionary radio KNOM, stood out as a different kind of spiritual leader.
People Magazine called the Jesuit "Western Alaska's Hippest DJ." The archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska, called him "a dynamic priest, a man of personal discipline despite his relaxed, almost casual manner."
Now it appears that Poole may have been too casual - and not at all disciplined.
Lawsuits and claims filed with the church accuse Poole of kissing, fond ling and simulating sex acts with native girls as young as 10. One suit alleges that he impregnated a 14-year-old, then encouraged her to have an abortion and blame her father.
In a deposition taken last year by Costa Mesa sexual-abuse litigator John Manly, Poole admitted French-kissing young girls and having them lie on top of him, according to lawyers on both sides. But he denied that his intentions were sexual or that he impregnated anyone.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Claire Luna, Times Staff Writer
An Orange County judge dismissed a contempt charge Monday against a man accused of violating a court order when he talked to the Los Angeles Times about his alleged sexual encounter with televangelist Paul Crouch.
Before the defense presented any evidence, Superior Court Judge Robert J. Moss ruled that Crouch's lawyers did not have enough proof to support their case against former Trinity Broadcasting Network employee Enoch Lonnie Ford.
"While it is likely that Mr. Ford did violate this order," Moss said, "there has been inadequate evidence."
Another judge had barred Ford in April 2003 from talking to the media about his allegation that Crouch seduced him seven years earlier at a network-owned cabin near Lake Arrowhead.
Reporter William Lobdell cited Ford's friends and court documents in a Sept. 12 article that first revealed the allegations. A story that ran 10 days later included statements from Ford and photographs of the 41-year-old Lake Forest man taken by a Times photographer.